To Change the Past
by BCFireShadow
Summary: Naruto wanted to save the world, and succeeded. But he had not foreseen the hidden implications he had towards his actions. Now, he was back to change his past, and hopefully alternate it from his own future. He will do what ever it takes. Because he was Uzumaki Naruto. AU TimeTravel!Naruto.
1. The Aftermath

The war of the Bijuu. The Fourth Shinobi World War as others called it. It is also known as the most dangerous war of all shinobi wars.

It all started with three Ame orphans, having a dream for absolute peace. Their group was once peaceful, but their views on this 'peace' got crooked and made them thirst for fear and power when one of them died saving a country. Thus, started the organization, Akatsuki, or The Red Dawn was created.

The next member was another crooked viewer of peace. Crushed between the rocks saving his teammate, everyone thought he was dead. Amazingly living without his other left half, retrieved by the legendary Uchiha and a plant-like man, he grew accustomed to his new body. Just in time to see his other teammate die because a lightning-based jutsu pierced her heart courtesy by his best friend. Knowing the reasons, he was okay, but seeing her _die _in front of him, by the hands of his best friend at most, and being hunted by the Iwa nin, he led to the conclusion that she was a candidate to hold a jinchuuriki, control her to destroy the opposing village, in other words, to be a spy for the Rock Village.

It led him to deduce that the whole world was power-hungry, and it was impossible to live in a peaceful life. His solutions were to kill all people, or control all the people. He chose the second option.

Devising a plan, he ended up creating the ultimate genjutsu ever; the Moon's Eye Plan. The plan was to direct his Sharingan to the moon, and cast an illusion to all people over the world who'd look towards After that, he would make the fake reality where everybody was friends, where everybody had their dream jobs, and everybody was good at their ninja capabilities/talents.

In other words, the fake reality.

The perfect life.

He knew anybody would like that. Hell, even _he _would like that.

But, together with the last remaining Ame orphans, knew that accomplishing this dream would need lots and lots of power and chakra, and theirs alone were nothing to control the technique.

They need powerful shinobi.

They need powerhouses. They needed chakra powerhouses.

They need the power of a bijuu.

Preferably, all nine bijuu, and revive a form once again of the creature that was sealed by the almost-mythical shinobi in the world in the moon- the Juubi, also known as the Ten Tails.

Akatsuki's view for peace spread, and required powerful missing-nins, bordering A- class to S-class ninjas of high caliber.

Along with Pein, a self-proclaimed god that was one of the Ame trio and once known as Nagato and best friend of Yahiko , Konan, another of the Ame trio and a paper-based jutsu user, and Uchiha Obito a.k. /Madara, once known as the ninja who was friendly towards everybody who awakened his sharingan saving his teammates, others also joined in.

Kakuzu the Immortal with Five Hearts. Almost inhuman looking when fighting, he has hearts masked by the elements, the pieces of porcelain lets him have all the elemental affinities. These hearts had also allowed him to live for decades for he has been alive at the time of the Shodaime Hokage, seeing he had once fought him. He can also repair himself with wire looking tendrils, and can extend this ability to his comrades to repair any damage.

Hidan the Immortal Jashinist. A fan of profanities, bloodshed and cutting/ripping, he has a crazed glee for fighting. His specialty was he _can't _be killed, and he can kill by using your own blood and performing a ritual for the so-called god Jashin. He cusses anybody who hated his 'god'.

Deidara the Mad Bomber. As his name suggests, his liking to explosions is world-known. His addiction was extended to the extent that he can make figurines of anything he wants that are made of clay created by the mouths on his hands. He calls this as, "_unwei bakuhatsu no, un_," translating to "Art is an explosion, yeah."

Sasori the Puppeteer of the Red Sands. To Suna, he is the grandson of the elder Chiyo, he made himself a puppet. Realizing he can be killed by anybody stronger than him, he changed into something repairable, his specialty; puppets. Storing his heart in a small device, only two had known that it was his weakness. He also makes his victims as his puppets, preferably the strong ones.

Hoshigaki Kisame the Tailless Bijuu. A shark-man look alike and a summoner of the sharks, he has powerful chakra reserves equal to a Bijuu. Former member of the _Kiri no Shinobigatana Nananin Shu _(The Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist), he also uses the chakra-shaver sword that converts its 'food' to its user's chakra, the fearsome Samehada.

Uchiha Itachi the Sharingan Master. An Uchiha opposed to his clan like his best friend, he killed all the members of his clan in one night, except his brother. He is also famed for being merciful, polite and kind to his enemies and regrets killing in cold blood. He is a master of his clan bloodline, the Mangekyou, and also signed the Crow contract.

Zetsu the Black and White Artificial Human. Made by Madara Uchiha in one of his experiments, he looks like a man engulfed by a Venus flytrap. He has two halves; the White peacemaker, and the Black sadist. He was created by the cells of Hashirama Senju, the First Hokage. He is not easy to incapacitate for he can make real look-alike, copying everything about what it's replicating. He is the perfect spy, for he can travel underground at high speeds.

All of these people wear a black cloak with red clouds adorning it as their uniforms. Usually they have straw hats on to hide their faces, sometimes they do not. The similarity was that they travelled by pairs; and took orders from "Leader-sama". 'Leader-sama' was initially Pein, but later was replaced by Obito.

They succeeded in collecting the bijuus of Gaara; the Ichibi no Tanuki (Shukaku), from Sunagakure. Yugito Nii; the Nibi no Nekomata (Matatabi) from Kumogakure, the Yagura; tha Sanbi no Genbu (Isobu) from Kirigakure, Roshi; Yonbi no Saru(Son Goku) from Iwagakure, Han; the Gobi no Hokou (Kokuo) from Iwagakure, Utakata; the Ronbi no Namekuji (Saiken) from Kirigakure and Fuu; the Nanabi no Kabutomushi(Chomei) from Takigakure. These were the facts that they weren't weak; in fact all of them fought. Some of them fought the two Akatsuki members alone with their respective powers; which is impressive since they were technically fighting two S-class shinobi _alone_. Another was they were brainwashed, initially extracted but brought back to life, but since the life of a jinchuuriki was practically cursed of existence, other villages handed them readily to the Akatsuki without a challenge.

The exceptions were Kirabi; the Yondaime Raikage's adopted brother, an [awful] rapper and the Hachibi no Kyogyu(Gyuki) from Kumogakure, and Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze; the son of the late _Yondaime Hokage_/_Konoha no Kiroii Senko_ (Konoha's Yellow Flash)and the _Akai Chishio no Habanero _(Bloody Red Hot Habanero)plus the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no Yoko (Kurama) from Konohagakure.

Knowing that any resistance was futile, the Daimyos of the Great Shinobi Countries proposed a treaty between them. The Gokage Summit was the result, and the Five Shinobi alliance was created. Lead by the five Kages of each village, the alliance was divided into different aspects; the front, close combat ninjas; the second, the mid-range ninjas; the third, the medics and healer; the fourth, the strategists and communication networks.

The enemies were consisted of the monsters experimented by Madara Uchiha. All had monstrous looking forms, all had special abilities. They had to destroy their minds fully. This alone made the war difficult. Zetsu, one of his creations, made bodies that were undetectable combined with the restrained Yamato, and succeeded because it was made with Wood style cells. They unleashed an army of look-alikes and the shinobi alliance had difficulty judging who the true ally was and who was not.

This was defeated with the help of the Kyuubi jinchuuriki Naruto, who had the Kyuubi mode on. This technique allowed him to detect pure evil, and mind controlled shinobi.

Kabuto Yakushi, the temporary ally of Obito Uchiha, made things harder. Now, with the cells and techniques of Orochimaru the Snake Sannin and his former master, he used the technique Impure World Resurrection and resurrected the dead Akatsuki members, Momochi Zabuza the Demon of the Bloody Mist, Haku the last of the clan with Ice manipulation, Dan and Nawaki friends of Tsunade Senju, Asuma Sarutobi, and other missing-nins with remarkable techniques.

This was defeated by the resurrected Itachi Uchiha saved from the technique because of Shisui's eye in Naruto, with his brother Sasuke Uchiha. Fought a battle in a cave where Kabuto was found, the bespectacled-power hungry ninja was defeated with a Sharingan technique called Izanami. The mind-controlled shinobi outside the cave said their last farewell to their opponents and crumbled into dust.

After that, Madara unleashed the bodies of the former jinchuurikis along with their resealed bodies. All had chakra rods embedded into their bodies, controlled by the leader. All resumed their bijuu forms, but was later defeated when Naruto and Kirabi pulled out the rods, the latter with the help of Sage mode, and the other in his tailed form. Allies appeared once again, five out of nine were former traitors.

Orochimaru, Otokage and formerly one of the _Densetsu no Sannin _(The legendary Three), he came back following his all familiar wayward student Sasuke to achieve his dream, whatever-it-was. He helped resurrecting the former Hokages, the one of the four strongest ninjas in the world.

Sasuke Uchiha, former traitor of the Leaf. Betrayed his own village for power, being consumed by the darkness of revenge. Came back to help than destroy the world because of his brother's explanation, redeemed himself by tag-teaming with the Konoha Twelve, minus Neji Hyuuga.

Karin Uzumaki, last Uzumaki besides Naruto. Along with Suigetsu who wields the _Kubikirirocho_, and Juugo of the Curse Seal, they followed Sasuke to his decision for he was the leader of their self-proclaimed Team _Taka _(Hawk).

Hashirama Senju, resurrected by the _Hebi Sannin, _fought Madara Uchiha, a one-on-one,as they call it. Since the Uchiha would not budge until Hashirama was his opponent,they had no choice but to concede.

Tobirama Senju, along with his brother, ended being resurrected. He held up and did a jutsu weakening the Ten- Tails. Using his impressive control over water, he fought against the enemies.

Hiruzen Sarutobi, Sandaime Hokage. The same with his senseis, he used his abilities and a particular sealing that helped seal the Juubi along with his fellow Hokages.

Minato Namikaze, former student of Jiraiya the _Gama Sannin _showed up also, doing so what his fellow hokages were doing. In Kyuubi mode, he offered his last Ying chakra to his son in the end, as his parting gift.

His son thanked him and with the reunited with the former Team Seven and remaining members of the Konoha Twelve. Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno, and Naruto Uzumaki- Namikaze, also dubbed as the second coming of the Legendary Sannin that were ironically the ones that taught them, made their presences known in the battlefield.

Their personal summons were introduced.

Gamakichi, son of Chief Toad Boss Summon Gamabunta, for the Nine Tails jinchuuriki.

Aoda, son of Chief Snake Summon Manda, for the Eternal Mangekyou sharingan user.

Katsuyu, Chief Slug Summon and Healer, for the Head Medic kunoichi.

They fought the Juubi with the help of the summons and the combined efforts of all shinobi.

The war had ended eventually.

But it didn't end without a heavy price.


	2. Sacrifices Made

**Um, hi, I didn't get to put a hello in my earlier chapter... I was still learning the rules. Eheh. Hello! =^_^=**

**I put up two chapters already, one for testing, and this, the real thing. Don't flame me too much, just tell me in a good way *please* if my story sucks, and why.**

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**I can't believe I forgot this, so here.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, or any character. Masashi Kishimoto-sensei does.**

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Chapter 2- Sacrifices Made

One year after the war, the world was in a tranquil, peaceful and happy state. Villagers were just waking up from their deep sleep, with smiles on their faces, knowing they were finally safe.

Particularly, this describes the village of Konohogakure no Sato.

Hard to notice that this village was one of the villages who brought the greatest blow to the war of the Bijuu, one year ago.

In that one year, a lot had changed. The buildings were newer because the war had destroyed the whole village. The pride of Konohagakure, the Hokage Mountain, thankfully stood its ground. Only few knew the real reason of the faces; other than it displays how powerful and serious the leaders could be, the monument was also supposedly the 'inanimate' guardians of the village. It is said that because of this 'guardians', the Hokages that already left for the afterlife would still protect their home. Those who knew smiled and thanked Kami for letting them help (literally), and those who didn't thought, 'the last of the original structure of our home.'

Shinobi were fewer by 5% of the original forces. The causes were, many ninjas passed away during and after the main assault, and others believed they did not need any more ninjas since the world is equal now, and there were no reason to fight. "No more ninjas, no more war", they say.

Another new thing is the Hokage; Rokudaime to be exact. The council elected the long-time aspirer of the Hokage seat since ever, the best candidate and the Hero of the World, Uzumaki-Namikaze Naruto.

Yeah, he was happy. Lonely? He was.

The war made a great toll on the teen's life. It made him realize that he has already fulfilled his sensei Jiraiya's dream; to stop the circle of hatred. It also slowly made a smile creep up his face, before his eyes rolled back and his teammate Sakura had to catch him from falling.

'_Sensei…..I've completed your dream! The world is now what you wanted to be. And I- your blonde-knucklehead-of-a-student-apprentice, did it. Are you proud of me, Sensei? I wish you are.'_

He found himself in a coma after that, with different pitches of "NARUTO!" as his last recollection. Looking around, he observed that he was in a tent, lying down, beside other ninjas. His eyebrow shot up in silent question.

'_Am I…. in the infirmary? Did I faint? If so, who caught me- Sakura-chan! Oh no, she must be worried sick from me fainting because I rarely do that! And she must be terribly exhausted right now with every shinobi to heal! And-and- the others- where are they? Are they okay? I know they used too much chakra than they normally would… Kuso, what could be happening?!I have to get out now-'_

By this time, Naruto's heartbeat was increasing and the heart detector beside him was beeping too loud, causing the nearest medic to rush to him: Shizune, a black-haired young woman, apprentice of one of the _Densetsu no Sannin _; the Legendary Sucker and Drunkard, Tsunade.

Shizune immediately bolted into the makeshift medical room, silently asking if the patient was having a seizure. She breathed a sigh of relief when she only saw his favorite whiskered blonde of a brother, Naruto, hyperventilating in a corner. She continued her way to the main tent.

Wait. Backtrack. Naruto hyperventilating in a corner?

She rushed beside him, trying to calm the distressed blonde. She only knew the reason he was acting like this; Naruto basically lived the saying, "others first before thyself".

"Naruto! Calm down. Your heartbeat's getting faster. Slow down, slow down." Shizune said.

"B-But, the others- I have to check on them! Let me out! Please!" the blonde begged.

"Naruto, relax, take in deep breaths. Okay. Exhale." Shizune instructed. "Now, I want you to know that everything's.." Shizune hesitated for a second, her eyes briefly flashing sadness. "Okay. They're okay. No need to panic. Lie down. Rest. You've already done so much for us, it's the least that we can give to you." she finished kindly.

"B-But I have to-" Naruto started but withered under Shizune's 'medic glare' as he dubbed it.

"No. I am your superior, I am the doctor, _I_ will be the one to dismiss YOU." She glared at the patient. "Am I to be understood?" she asked.

"H-Hai. Gomen nasai, Shizune nee-chan. I'm just worried, with everybody's state after fighting the war. But could you promise me, if I'm deemed okay, would you let me out of this place? I terribly _hate _hospitals, and this doesn't even count, because it's a _tent._" He ranted, eyebrow twitching. He didn't notice the amused expression on the black-haired woman's face. He turned to her. "Please, nee-chan?" he pleaded, hands clasped together.

"Oh, all right, all right. Just- just rest. If you need anything, I'll come." She said, patting his shoulder, standing up, then walked toward the exit. "Remember, they're okay. " She said quietly, closing the tent flap.

'_Well, I guess I'm stuck here for the time being. I'm so bored. What to do, what to do?'_ he thought, frowning. He sat on his makeshift bed, grumbling. He looked over his shoulder and saw some scrolls lying on the table on his left.

'_Jutsu scrolls? What are these doing here?' _he thought, grabbing the scrolls, and saw a note attached to it. ~_If you would ever get bored (and I know you will) I left some scrolls for you. All wind techniques that I know and I've collected are here. If ever, you also want to know about other helpful shinobi techniques, it's included. Have fun reading! Shizune~_

"Oh well, better than nothing." He shrugged, sitting down. "Now let's see… Ah, bo-ring. Oh, this might be cool to learn! And if ever, I'd be glad to show this to others, after I get admitted out of this place!" he exclaimed, giddy with excitement. He was so absorbed in his reading that he didn't see his nurse peeking at him.

'_Naruto… this is the only thing that I can do for you. I-I'm sorry I can't directly say it in front of you.'_ was the medic-nin's last thought, after resuming her duties.

* * *

Four weeks had passed, and Naruto was finally admitted out of the "hospital" albeit in a wheelchair, pushed by his pink-haired teammate, Sakura. Earlier, he was found practicing a jutsu(like, controlling wind to propel himself up) and whistling a tune. Sakura was so terrified in seeing him floating (she thought he was a ghost) she shrieked.

Now, they were in a clearing once known as the Team Seven training grounds, where the three posts of the Hiruzen Sarutobi 's to-be-known Legendary Sannin team, Minato Namikaze's team and Kakashi Hatake's most epic team were trained. Amazingly, the Memorial Stone still stood.

"Whoa." The Kyuubi jinchuuriki breathed in amazement. "Is this memorial made up by diamond-hard crystal? It's still standing after all the wars Konoha had been through!" he knocked on it. "Dang. That's some hard stuff there." He turned toward his medic teammate, who was looking at him with a frown on her face. In confusion, he asked, "Uh, Sakura-chan, why are you looking at me like that?"

She didn't answer. Assuming it was just exhaustion, he shrugged the action.

"Um, Sakura-chan, why is it that I'm wearing all bla-"

"How are you so… so calm about everything, Naruto?" she asked, '_Desperation?' _in her voice. "H-How are you so nonchalant about his? Aren't you supposed to be in hysterics right now? Why aren't you- Why- Why-"she had let go of the handles of the Namikaze's wheelchair and looked at him with glistening eyes.

"Sakura, calm down! Why are you so hysterical? Why should _I _be hysterical?" he stood up, ('_Phew. Good thing Shizune-chan's not here. She'd get angry at me.') "_ Darn it, Sakura, tell me what's wrong!" the latter angrily yelled, shaking the girl's shoulders.

"Why am **_I_**hysterical?! Didn't you know?" she asked, calming down out of her hysterics as her teammate rubbed circles around her back. She looked up at his face, which was contorted in confusion.

"Know about what?"

"About Ino, Chouji, Lee, Neji, Tenten, and Shino!" Sakura exasperatedly said, expecting Naruto to know the answer. She began darting her eyes towards him and the Memorial Stone.

"What about them? Do they need me?" he asked, still clueless to what she was hinting.

"You don't.. You don't really know?" now Sakura's eyes were glistening with tears.

"What?! What should I know?" Naruto asked.

"They're.." she brushed her hand on the stone. "They're dead, Naruto."

* * *

The medics were frantically running around like headless chickens, and shinobi were freezing up as killer intent flooded the whole place. Kiba and Sakura, the only ones that currently possessed the ability to move, were restraining an enraged jinchuuriki.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Naruto gritted his teeth in annoyance, yanking the coat of his victim harder. "Why didn't you tell me that they were already **_dead _**and today's their funeral, huh?"

"I-I'm sorry Naruto-kun… I didn't want to worry you! You-you seemed so happy and I-I didn't want to shatter your happiness!" Shizune said, choking at the intense grip of her captor.

"That's your REASON?! That's your FREAKING REASON?! Hide the truth from me, from _me,_ and what, let me miss the funeral? Is that what you have in **_mind, Shizune?_**" he growled. His eyes hardening into blue chips of cold ice, which made Shizune yelp in fear.

"Hey, man, don't do this to her! Everybody's sad, it's not only you! I am! Sakura is! The others are! NARUTO!" Kiba shouted but somewhat strangled, obviously because of the killer intent flooding the place. "Dam* it, Naruto! Stop leaking killer intent!" he yelled, tugging his best friend's black coat, while he was sticking his feet on the floor, trying to pull Naruto and try to be grounded.

Obviously, it wasn't working.

"Naruto, get a hold of yourself! This isn't like you!" Sakura shouted. She was still aghast as Naruto practically shrugged off her famous iron grip like nothing. She knew he was this strong, but this? "Naruto, please! Before Tsunade-shishou comes and sees you!" she desperately called.

"I do not give a thing about Tsunade." The latter growled, but released Shizune's collar that he was holding on. "Get angry with me, I don't freaking care. I do, what I know what I deem is right. And not telling that your friends' funeral was going to happen, until said funeral is coming? Complete and utter bull, for so you know."

He walked out of the room, shutting his KI. Sakura went to aid the horror-stricken Shizune while Kiba went off to find the whiskered blond.

"Shizune-san, are you alright? He didn't hurt you, didn't he?" asked a worried apprentice.

The black-haired woman took deep breaths first before nodding. "Hai, Sakura. Arigato."

"I understand why you did it, Shishou. What I disapprove is that you waited till the funeral." Sakura started, causing Shizune to look at her. "Naruto cares for his friends, and you not telling him earlier, combining that I was chosen to escort him and let him wear black clothes, _without _knowing the real reason, _is_ kind of harsh. But don't worry, he'd forgive you." She said reassuringly at the end.

"I _really _made him white-hot angry, didn't I?" Shizune mumbled quietly. Sakura nodded, agreeing. "Yeah, all the killer intent and the actions, and his eyes, Yeah, he's angry. But he'll cool down."

"I doubt it." Shizune muttered under her breath. "He didn't call me Shizune- nee chan, Sakura."

* * *

Shinobi were standing quietly in the rain, their eyes were drooping down. The air had the feel of sadness and mourning. They were listening at the words of their current Hokage.

"The Fourth War has passed, everyone." Tsunade started. And we are free from any battles that will endanger the village once more. But we lost many shinobi in the process. They may be your brother, sister, father, family figure, or friend. Today, we mourn from them passing away." she ended.

All ninjas present lined up, all holding white roses,and laid it on the respective cases. All were quiet, but Maito Gai looked at the red-eyed shy Hyuuga heiress.

"Where is Naruto, Hinata-san?" he asked quietly, contrast to his character.

Hinata only sniffed a response. "H-He probably can't face anyone now, since the incident in the hospital." She said, not stopping from sobbing since two of his brother-like figures also died- Shino Aburame and Neji Hyuuga.

"There, there, Hinata-san. You're not alone in this." Truth to be told, he was only fighting his tears as he was a seasoned shinobi, but he had lost _all _of his subordinates. His rival Kakashi was the luckiest of them all. He still had four of his subordinates; one fully recovered, one exhausted from healing, another in a coma but still alive, and the other still gone rogue or something, because they really didn't know where his loyalties lie. Probably theirs, but nobody knew but Naruto himself. Kakashi was severely injured; he had clutches and was almost wrapped in full-body bandage suit, except for his trusty ¾ face mask.

"Dam* you Kakashi and your coolness." Gai whispered quietly, chuckling midst the situation, finally letting his bitter tears fall.

Ino Yamanaka. Student of the also late Asuma Sarutobi, subordinate of Team Ten. A great kunoichi, a master of the Yamanaka mind techniques like his late father Inoichi Yamanaka, and a great medic with poisons, she passed away using her last bit of chakra relaying the well-thought plan of her teammate.

Chouji Akimichi. Also a student of Asuma Sarutobi, son of late Chouza Akimichi and a master of the Akimichi clan techniques, his body had shut down after the overuse of the special food pills and chakra pills his clan ate for desperate situations.

Rock Lee, apprentice of Maito Gai, a non-jutsu user. He was known as a great taijutsu master, rumored to pass his sensei's caliber at his style of fighting, the Drunken Fist. Died saving a few shinobi from the last attack of the Juubi, opening the all the Chakra Gates, thus endangering his body. He was later found in the medical ward, not breathing.

Neji Hyuuga, a member of the Hyuuga Branch. A jounin at sixteen, he was considered a prodigy of his family. Subordinate of Maito Gai, he had died doing his main duty, protecting the Hyuuga heiress. He had died before a medic-nin had the chance to heal him.

Tenten Higarashi, member of Team Gai, the most proficient ninja in all Shinobi Countries in using tools, had died because of the Juubi's last attack, one of the unfortunate people to be stuck under a jutsu that planted them onto the ground.

Shino Aburame, son of the late Shibi Aburame, master of the kikaichu bug techniques, member of the Genjutsu Mistress, Kurenai Yuuhi. Died protecting Kiba with the last of his chakra.

They were dead, and the skies even mourned for them.

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**Naruto's too OOC, what do you think? But he's _really _angry... and sad.**


	3. Secrets Revealed

**Hello, there!**

**I've uploaded three chapters and it's ****_very _****early here, and classes will soon get in the wat so I'm deciding I'll be the author who updates *at least* once a week.**

**Tell me if there's something wrong, and here I just really like Naruto to be ****_closer _****to his teammates, you know?**

**So, read and review, and I don't own Naruto. It belongs to Kishi-sensei!**

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**Chapter 3- True Tendencies Revealed**

That night, something changed in Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze.

He realized, he was still, in other terms, weak. Without his trusty companion Kurama the Nine Tails being sealed inside him, and his Sage Mode, variations of Rasengan and Kage Bunshin only there in his arsenal, he was darn weak. _'Well, maybe average, but still. I guess… I survived all Akatsuki's attempts on my capture because of Kurama. Because of Kurama's large capacity of chakra, I wouldn't even have a chance to do those things. Thanks by the way, Kyuubi.'_

**_'No problem, Naruto. Say, kit, I have to say something. For an unusual bundle of happiness, you can be a pretty dang pessimist.' _** The Kyuubi replied in his mind, amazement in his voice.

'_Tch. I am to please.' _The jinchuuriki retorted, inwardly smirking.

**_'Still. You've got to sell yourself some credit there, kid. You're a Namikaze AND an Uzumaki in one body. Combined, you're still going to have large chakra reserves. And maybe, if I weren't sealed into you, your parents would still be alive to teach you, you'd get many jutsu than that Rasengan of yours, and maybe it would still be taught to you, just add that Hiraishin and Chakra Chains they have. Ever thought of it like that?' _**the Kyuubi no Kitsune asked. Weird. He was oddly optimistic today. Did Naruto and he change personalities or something? He just swished his tails in his amusement of his thought.

_'You make it sound like I hate you. And if you're thinking, no I don't. Heck,if it weren't for YOU, I'd never be determined, I'd never get this far, I'd never be.. me, I guess.'_

**_'Bah, I'd like that. Not annoying, no atrocious jumpsuit, no obnoxious blonde, just calm, cool, serious and level-headed kid. Not a stupid, dumb, idiot.' _**He grumbled.

_'Bah, well, I can be level-headed when I want to. The suit… well, I could change if you want to, you know. And I'm not an idiot! I just learn things the different way! Psh, darn pessimistic kitsune.'_

**_'Oh yeah, I got my evil side again. Phew.' _**The Kyuubi no Yoko thought.

'_Oh, wait, got to go, Kakashi-sensei's here.'_

**_'Whatever.'_**

* * *

"I knew you'd be here, Naruto."

Kakashi Hatake, son of the White Fang, Special Jounin of Konohagakure, sensei of "The Four Guardians of the World," and the _Kopi Sharingan no Kakashi_ (Kakashi of the Copy Wheel Eye), gazed at his student that was standing beside him under the rain, in front of the Memorial Stone. He looked at him with a forlorn expression on his face, which made him frown.

"Hey, Kakashi-sensei. Nice to see you up and walking." Naruto smiled sadly, turning to face his sensei.

"Nice to see you too. How're you holding up?" the jounin asked, looking at the newly added names on the stone. He was using his clutches since he was still injured.

"Fine, I guess." There was something terribly wrong right now. Yeah, he'd understood this day was supposed to be sad. But Kakashi knew Naruto since he was little-since he was one of his ANBU guards, his jounin sensei and subordinate. It wasn't because he was serious; it was because he was bottling up his emotions inside. He wasn't crying like when the Sandaime-he's grandfather figure-or Jiraiya, his sensei and godfather- died.

"Tell me the truth, Naruto. What. Do. You. Feel?" Kakashi asked forcefully, looking intensely at his blonde-haired student. "I am your sensei, I've known you since you were little, albeit not really meeting each other formally until you were genin." He slowed down. "I know what you're feeling right now, and tell me what's wrong. I'm not good with this stuff, comforting others and all, but you can tell me."

"I-I.." Naruto bashfully looked at the side. _'Should I tell him?'_

"Kakashi-sensei, I-I miss them.." he said, trembling. "T-They were my friends, they died because I wasn't strong enough! I-I didn't take everything _that _seriously until I knew I was being hunted by Akatsuki, and even then, I told myself, I'm stronger now, nobody will get killed! And.. and.."

Kakashi just watched as the blonde blamed himself for everything that had passed. He won't intervene until his student was done. He needed to vent.

"-look what happened! People got killed because of who was in me. People got killed because others hunted me for power." He angrily punched the ground, making a crater, making Kakashi's eye widen. Naruto proceeded looking at him. "Kakashi-sensei… you were there! If Pein didn't have the _Gedo Rinei Tensei, _(Outer Path: Samsara of Heavenly Life Technique) everybody caught in the attack would have _died_! YOU wouldn't be here, Tsunade- baa-chan wouldn't be here, Iruka-sensei and my friends wouldn't be here either! And now, they're dead. I-I.." the jinchuuriki ranted, sobbing.

"I DON'T WANT TO LOSE ANYONE BECAUSE I WAS _WEAK_! I WANTED.. I WANTED YOU ALL TO BE THERE WITH ME, BY MY SIDE! I became stronger.. to protect all of my precious people, but now, they're dead. I miss them, Kakashi-sensei… I miss them." He glanced up to his sensei. He then spoke the three sentences that shook him to the core, remembering it was the same set of sentences he said to his sensei that night when Rin had gotten killed by his own hand.

**"****_I failed, Kakashi-Sensei. I failed to keep my promise to save them all. I failed myself." _**

_ "I failed, Minato-Sensei. I failed to keep my promise to save them both. I failed myself."_

That night, he had realized he was more like Naruto than he ever knew.

* * *

After that fateful day, Kakashi was often seen with his blonde student, doing usual things like friends would do. This had caused ninjas to have reactions from complete utter astonishment to disbelief. Kakashi, opening up to another person than anybody in his whole life had known?

It was practically unheard of.

Tsunade was surprised when the masked jounin had come to her office, stating that his student Naruto can be on par on him already, swiftly demanding that he should have been promoted already.

She questioned the usual lazy jounin with "Why the apparent change? You never wanted somebody promoted, much less cared. And how come you're saying he should have been-" the Hokage shuffled the papers Kakashi Hatake had given her. " ANBU? Are you saying he's ready for it?"

Smirking underneath his mask, Kakashi replied, "Why, of course. Why'd you think _I'd _suggest it if I'm not sure with it?" he said cheekily, much to the Hokage's amusement, astonishment and annoyance.

"I think you've been hanging around the gaki too much. _You're _being cheeky. This is absurd. Fine. Whatever. If he's good, I trust my little brother to you. If he gets hurt, you'll be receiving the end of my chakra-infused punches. Understand?" Tsunade said in an intimidating tone."And you even want him to be put in ANBU! Kakashi…"

"Hai, Hokage-sama. " the jounin said in a respectful tone, but inside he was silently agreeing with Naruto with something that he had said about his mother figure.

'_Well, sometimes she's intimidating as hell, but I really can't help but imagine that_ _one day, if she'd really act and look like her age, she'd be whacking me with her cane. Sadly, that'll be in a long time. Just going to put up with those chakra-infused punches- those hurt, beware- and now I have two of them- Sakura-chan and Tsunade-obaa-san!'_

"Hokage-sama, do you have no trust of my teaching abilities?" Kakashi asked. _He's probably going to show himself now.' _The Hokage just snorted.

"Yeah, Tsunade-obaa-sama, don't you have any faith in _any _of our abilities?" supported a concealed Naruto, just behind her, crouching down on her table, just eye-level with the shocked Hokage. He jumped off, disappeared and appeared beside Kakashi via wind shunshin. Kakashi, who was standing by the door, adopted a smug look, while the whiskered blonde beside him grinned.

'_Things would be interesting from now on…. But what's with the sense of foreboding that I could feel?"_


	4. A New Responsibility

**Hello, BCFireShadow here!**

**I know I'm late, but we had a lot of things to do in school. So here's my chapter!**

**And please, ****_please,_**** put reviews. I don't have enough motivation, people. Please?**

**Anyways, I don't own Naruto. Dang it, but the truth hurts, ain't it? (Not really)**

* * *

**Chapter 4- A New Responsibility**

Konohagakure no Sato followed this curriculum; the Hokage was the highest position, next were the Sannin level, then the ANBU and Special Jounin next, Chuunin, Genin, then Academy Student. Others were; the Tokubetsus, those who fill the gaps between each rank, the Clan Heads and the Civilian Heads completing the Council, and the Oi-Nins, the Hunter Ninjas.

After the war, ninjas were fewer, but higher in rank. Also, those who survived the war made one step higher in the ranks because of it. New teams were formed along the way.

But none were as famous as Konoha's best tag team, an ANBU duo who was practically known for rescuing people, fighting people, or simply guarding the Hokage. They wore the standard uniform of the ANBU, but the other had metal plates on his arms and the other had chakra bands. The first also uses the Dog (Inu) mask, the other the Fox (Kitsune) mask. At the ANBU missions, they were known to be both ruthless and did not show any mercy to the victim being killed.

At ANBU HQ, it was quite the opposite.

Kitsune had the habit of training the others in each style, and learning from them, adding a few key strokes to his taijutsu. Pranking others who lowered their guard because they knew they were safe was also a hobby of his, and the poor kouhais were introduced to the practical finesse of the 'Pranking King'. He also became friends to all of them, not one hated him because he had this aura of calmness, friendliness and understanding. He was pretty much known to the outside world as the Hero of Konoha, Namikaze-Uzumaki Naruto.

Inu was, in all terms, quite the opposite of his teammate Kitsune. He always had to be encouraged to make friends with others and train with others courtesy of Fox. He was reserved, quiet, but without anybody noticing, Kitsune's personality had rubbed off on him a little. He also trusted Fox because he was the first _true _friend that understood that understood why he does things differently. This ANBU member was known as Hatake Kakashi.

At first, admittedly, the Hokage was skeptical at first. She felt that her younger brother wouldn't like ANBU as its specialty was to protect Konoha behind the curtains, completely opposite his personality. She remembered that day when she found out that they were accomplishing _mission after mission._

'_What the- 30 missions, only in one month?' she looked up at the duo, one in his usual slouch and bored expression posture, and the other was standing 'professionally' in front of his leader, meaning, smirking at the expense of the 'old lady'._

_"So… not fit for ANBU, huh?" Naruto asked._

_Tsunade rolled her eyes at his apparent boastfulness, but somehow the young man wasn't that loud anymore. Maybe Kakashi was the reason. "And killing? Are you okay?"_

_ "I am, Baa-chan." Naruto confirmed. "I had with Kakuzu,but he was immortal, you know. And killed Asuma-sensei. Injured my friends, too. Still, he didn't have blood, so… yeah. Madara was killed by our combined efforts, not me. Tobi and Pein had a change of heart- how, I don't know- and sacrificed himself. So I didn't technically kill them. I don't even remember any first kill. Isn't that where you puke your guts out? No thank you. Kakashi-sensei would be the done to kill them. I don't know. He says I'm not yet prepared?"_

Smiling at the memory, Tsunade went to the next one; how the two had changed ANBU HQ. ANBU now became more dedicated in their work after an awe-inspiring speech from the blonde, they were more alert and serious that they can even detect the slightest of sounds that most Kage won't hear, and nobody had qualms from each other.

The both of them had changed the ANBU for the better.

'_Come to think of it the two is on a mission. I wonder, are they alright? The mission that I gave them was to attack the last remaining members of Akatsuki, the ones that stole the eyes of the Uchiha were Obito once stored them, and in return implanted the Sharingan in their eyes. Are they safe? Of course they would. They are the best after all. After this, maybe I can retire.. and drink a lot of sake and gamble. Yeah, plans, plans.'_

She didn't see the crack on her bottle of sake.

* * *

Kakashi Hatake was having a hard time. He was currently fighting the poison inside him injected by the enemy into his body earlier. He had to grip himself from shaking too much so he wouldn't attract his teammate's concentration. Pushing himself up to stand, wrapping bandages to the wound in his torso where the poison entered, he quickly hid the medical pack and put down his gear. He looked at the blonde beside him.

"Kitsune, report." He ordered, wincing a little. He prayed to God Naruto wouldn't notice that,

"Hai, Senpai. Ano, before that, are you injured, Inu?" Kitsune asked, peering at the man. He only noticed the medical pack being hidden. '_Oh well, I'd find out sooner or later.'_

"Nope, I'm not. How're the heads?" he asked, referring to the ones that they incapacitated earlier.

"Oh, that?" Naruto said, tilting his head. "Tora-sempai got it covered. He should be coming in. Dang, those guys ACTUALLY hit me. Because of that Izanagi technique."

"Actually, I think.." the figure of Yamato holding a bag arrived at the scene. He gave it to Naruto who sealed it in the scroll. "You can defeat him without beating a sweat if he didn't have the Sharingan." He commented, making his former student smile.

"Thanks, Yamato-sempai."

"Don't mention it."

Kakashi looked towards his blonde subordinate, inwardly wincing at the poison taking over his system. He gritted his teeth in pain and for once, thanking Yamato for entertaining Naruto. Actually, he's not that old not to fight the poison-the poison that went to his system was too hard to remove, and only Tsunade and his student Sakura could remove it.

But that's the thing-they were too far to reach in time. Refining his posture again, he asked a question to assess the Yondaime Hokage's son on how he had progressed.

_'I don't have much time.'_

"Naruto, why do you think people like him," he gestured to the latter's scroll where he kept the incapacitated bodies were sealed. "Search for power like the Sharingan?"

"Well, I could think of many possibilities, but one really points to something; because they had let the darkness inside them to consume their goodness.. But to have power.. is to have someone to protect." He smiled wistfully, remembering his genin days when he had the first true friend that could really understand him, Haku.

Kakashi nodded, inwardly smiling. _'Yep. The perfect choice.'_

Yamato's interest was piqued. '_Interesting.. what is Taichou trying to do? He never asks complicated questions in missions. What is wrong, I wonder?'_

"Why'd you ask, Kakashi-sensei?" the blonde jinchuuriki asked.

"Hm?" he looked at him lazily, now that their masks were removed. "Oh, nothing. Just…"

"Just…?" Tenzo repeated. The only answer he was a cryptic response, accompanied by a somewhat eye smile of his captain. Yamato was suddenly taken aback at the sad visage of the sole survivor of Team Minato. He suddenly remembered why Naruto was Kakashi's (second, next to Gai, of course) best friend.

"I'm proud to be your sensei, Naruto. I wish you'd grow up like your father and be a great shinobi. I'm very glad I've gotten to know you, and to be honest, you're my first _real _best friend, after Gai. Thanks for everything." Kakashi said, giving a wistful glance at the two before entering his tent. He knew Naruto can't do anything anymore t the point. He wasn't a healer, a poison expert, no. And they were too far from Konoha-even with Naruto's superior speed he was a lost case. He was, admittedly, feeling weak.

Naruto only blinked, not understanding why his sensei had done that. Tenzo, however, felt pity for the young jinchuuriki, understanding the words underneath.

'_ Naruto….I'm sorry.'_

Next day, Naruto went to his sensei's tent, only to find a note attached to the flap. Reading it quickly, he tried suppressing his tears and biting his lips, not letting his tears fall.

Hastily opening the tent, he trembled at the sight of his former senseis and current ANBU teammates. One was kneeling, head bowed down as a sign for respect, and the other one was lying still on his futon, a contented sleeping face. Naruto finally let his tears fall, quivering beside his second teacher.

Hatake Kakashi, son of the White Fang, the only non-Uchiha to hold the Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan and also known as _Kopi Mangekyou Sharingan no Kakashi, _that night, died.

* * *

The Hokage was the leader of the whole Leaf village, a supposedly calm, collected, understanding, and powerful shinobi. But this Hokage, was a temperamental one, a kunoichi with massive strength, and was currently worrying about ANBU's three highest officials.

Earlier, when she was looking at the files of the three, a group picture of the old and modern Team Seven consisting of 'The Four Guardians of the World' Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze, Sakura Haruno, Sai and Sasuke Uchiha, the Copy Ninja Kakashi Hatake, and the Wood Master Tenzou Yamato. The first three member's picture was hanging on the wall, beside the newer one.

A crack had appeared on Kakashi Hatake's face, separating him from the rest.

She hadn't stopped worrying.

And when she heard Naruto just passed ANBU HQ, holding the last Akatsuki bounties, she ordered Neko and Hebi to fetch Tora. His face was drooped down, and he handed an Inu mask, and quietly, but for everyone to hear, he solemnly whispered.

_"He's dead, Hokage-sama."_

Sai stood there, in the corner, wearing ANBU uniform and all, but he couldn't stop his mouth from hanging open. His fellow comrades' jaws dropped on the floor when they all heard the news. Tsunade only blinked once and gaped.

"Hokage-sama, is it true? Kakashi-sempai is gone?" Sai couldn't help but ask. His sensei was dead?

Tsunade looked at the mask that Yamato that he had given, and silently picked on it. She was surprised as a note- secretly inserted at the eye holes, and if he was still alive, she would be impressed.

"Hai, it is true." The Slug Sannin looked at the seal of the note, recognizing the Hokage insignia, meaning for Hokage's eyes only. She quickly made the hand sign for everybody to leave the room, and put the seals made by another blonde on the door. Quickly reading it, she gasped.

She was currently reading the last request of the late Kakashi Hatake.

* * *

Naruto was tired, sad, furious, lonely, and helpless at the same time.

'_My sensei just died yesterday, my friends just died months ago, the only one that can relate with me are Sakura-chan, who's in the hospital, drowning herself in work, Sai, who cannot project his feelings that good, and Sasuke, who can't even show his dam* face when needed, and I'm stuck in this office.'_

**_'You know, you've still got lots of work. Go on, you need to rest. Too much stress for a sixteen year old.' _** Kurama' voice boomed inside the jinchuuriki's head. **_'Or maybe, let it out.'_**

And so, Naruto let loose of his frustrations, crying himself to sleep, Kurama absently drying the wet papers in front of his container.

Namikaze-Uzumaki Naruto, by the vote of the candidate Kakashi Hatake, the council, and the elders, had been decreed as Rokudaime Hokage.


	5. A New Year, A New Seal

**Hello! BCFireShadow here! I'm late in posting, but... *sigh* I'm a newbie. Not so many reviews, but that's okay! I'll just do my best for those who will read my story. So, enjoy!**

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**Chapter 5- A New Year, A New Seal**

A cherry-blossom haired medic was currently waiting in the lobby, holding a pamphlet. She was still debating if she should hand the piece of paper to the Hokage or just invite him.

The Hokage's secretary, Shizune, suddenly appeared in the hallway and smiled. She nodded her head at the black haired woman and headed to the Hokage's room. Opening the door, the Hokage looked up from his glasses and nodded, turning to his paperwork once again.

"Sakura-chan, what's the problem?"

Sakura nodded her head at the Hokage. Ever since her teammate had been her leader a year ago, he was burdened with problems. She knew the Hokage didn't even have time for himself, and seeing him inside the office, always discussing about Konoha's matters. He had also developed the famous 'Hokage-mode', where he became serious and always had a blank face when speaking.

At first, she never thought Naruto would have developed that side of him. He had never shown her this side, always had a smile on his face, or a happy expression. Those were the only ones that she had seen.

But when she had learned from him- '_It's… my dedication to Kakashi-sensei and Ero-Sennin, Sakura-chan. Always be serious in your job- that's Ero-Sennin and his spywork-and don't show what you think of the topic- that's Kakashi-sensei.' _Then he had smiled. '_But don't be sad- I wouldn't change completely! I'd still be Uzumaki Naruto, deep down, dattebayo.'_

Now, in front of her, was him, in his stature of 6'3 (how the hell did that happen, she did _not _know) that was intimidating but had a calm feel, she believed. The man was now respected in all elemental nations, and was dubbed as "_Konoha no Kamikaze" _because he had an abnormal control over his wind manipulation. She had first seen his work a year ago when he was floating in the medical tent.

"Hokage-sama, I was just wondering, our friends were having a get-together tomorrow, and I was wondering, if you could, you know, attend? For old time's sake?" she asked hopefully. She was slightly unnerved that the whiskered blonde wasn't even looking at her.

"Eh?" Naruto suddenly lost grip of the pen he was holding, and looked at the pink-haired girl in front of him. He put his 'Hokage-face' off and showed genuine surprise. "Sakura-chan..? Why didn't you say so? You didn't need to have a schedule with me; I thought this was something urgent, a report."

"I-I thought you were busy! Being the Hokage and all…" Sakura apologized, but inside she was finding it funny that the Hokage lost composure. Even if he _was _Naruto.

"So… where will we meet again?" the blonde asked. In return, the medic-nin handed the pamphlet. Naruto scanned the paper and put it under the paper weight. Turning his gaze on her, he nodded, smiling slightly. Sakura inwardly became happy. This wasn't a fake smile where Naruto's smile didn't reach his eyes; this was a reserved, genuine smile. She doubted that others have seen it.

"I'll try to come. I promise."

* * *

That night, Maito Gai, Kurenai Yuuhi, Tenzo Yamato, the former Hokage Tsunade and the Hokage's secretary Shizune were standing in front of their (remaining) students Hinata Hyuuga, Shikamaru Nara, Kiba Inuzuka, Sai, and Sakura Haruno. All of them were in…

..the Ramen Stand.

"*sigh* Well, I guess he isn't coming." Sakura sighed, downtrodden. _'And I really thought he wouldn't break his promise…'_

"This, is awkward." Yamato commented, since they already finished eating their food and the first one to break the silence was Sakura.

"I thought that now Ramen is involved, that guy would jump to the opportunity. Guess I was wrong." Kiba muttered. "The work of being a kage must be getting to him."

"Actually-" Ayame tried to say.

"Psh." Tsunade rolled her eyes. "More like the paperwork's devouring him right now. Don't know how he always comes out fine. I swear, I think that gaki's _used _to it." She grumbled.

"Poor Naruto-kun." Hinata mumbled.

"I don't think that paperwork's bothering him now." Shizune said, attracting all gazes. "He's been creating something, I don't know exactly. And there's something bugging him always. He had been getting reports from those shinobi that he usually dispatches, and all are secrets. He banned the others to tell any details."

"I know." Shikamaru muttered. "I'm one of those people that has knowledge of his secret. And let's say I can understand why he's not telling anybody of this." He remembered that night he learned about the attacks on Sunagakure.

_"Shikamaru, can I trust you not tell anybody of this? This is classified information. You were asking about the attacks, right?" the Hokage stated, staring at his companion._

_"Sure. What about it?" Shikamaru asked._

_"Gaara's having a hard time holding Suna together. Not because the villagers were in a civil war, no, but something's been attacking them."_

_"SomeTHING?" the Nara repeated. _

_"Hai. And, call me paranoid, but I'm thinking it's Zetsu. I'm currently trying to make a seal to stop Zetsu. I'm thinking, he's still alive, since he was so hard to beat since nobody would know if it's the real one or not. I'm making a seal that would enhance my senses in Kyuubi Mode."_

_Naruto waited at the lazy genius's response,and to his immense happiness, he nodded._

_"It's logical, Naruto. Zetsu was an artificial human. It would be hard to confirm he's dead."_

_"Thanks, Shikamaru. I thought I'm the only one."_

_"Troublesome it may sound, but yeah. Your theory can be correct."_

"Should we visit him?" Gai asked, concerned for the kid's health. He was now taking over the role of sensei for the Team Seven. It was the least thing he could do for his eternal rival.

"Maybe that's a good idea. I haven't seen him rest." Sai agreed. "Talk about working non-stop to save Sunagakure from the attacks." Sai muttered quietly, Shikamaru only the one close to hear. The shadow user nodded.

"ACTUALLY-"Ayame raised her voice, stopping all of them. '_Finally, noticed._'"He told me he was doing some extra work, and he doesn't want to be disturbed and he's fine."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "To Naruto, fine means he's not actually okay. If he was fine, he'll send some letter or go here personally."

"Let's go then." Hinata meekly mumbled, standing up from her stool. The others followed and Kurenai closely followed after she paid the bill.

Ayame Ichiraku gave up and waved goodbye at the retreating group, then finally muttered, "Not Ramen? Didn't you see the Ramen I put in his secret cabinet?"

Teuchi Ichiraku laughed at her daughter's expense, receiving a glare from her, which made him laugh louder.

* * *

Arriving at the Fire Shadow's room, everybody was shocked as a distraught Naruto was seen. His hair was frazzled, and signs of fatigue were showing. He also kept muttering, "Seal… make sure to complete before Gokage Summit.. No time… Have to.."

All ninjas watched as he drew on a big scroll, rapidly but precise. Every now and then he would rub his eyes at the obvious lack of sleep.

"Naruto-kun!" Shizune shouted, worrying over the state of the blonde. '_Wasn't the Gokage Summit till next week?'_

"Eh, uh, uhm?" Naruto intelligently responded, stopping from what he was doing. "Oh, hey. Didn't see you there, heheh." He apologized, doing an eye smile and scratching the back of his head. He looked at them who were still gazing at him incredulously.

"What? Can a Hokage _not _sleep? I'm okay, guys. Nothing to worry about. M'okay.." the jinchuuriki assured. Honestly? He felt woozy.

"Naruto-kun! You have to rest!" Hinata shouted. Seeing him fall, she used the speed she didn't know she possessed until now to catch the blonde.

Gai proceeded to get the Hokage from the girl's arms and put him on the couch, which was earlier prepared by Kurenai as she had surmised that her leader would fall any time.

"Never thought I'd see the day that Hokage-sama falls into exhaustion." Sai said.

"Hm." Kiba agreed.

While the others were looking at the condition of their leader, Shikamaru had volunteered to clean his best friend's table. Checking each file, even checking the pamphlet under the paper weight, he stacked the papers uninterestedly until something written by the Hokage himself caught his eye.

Quickly scanning the room and finding nobody looking at him, he reached out on the seal that had caught his attention. He might not know much about fuuinjutsu, but one drawing held the branch, time.

_'Time? Why- Kami-sama, Naruto, what the heck are you thinking? You're not possibly planning to….'_

"Shikamaru-san." A voice whispered behind the lazy shadow-nin, jolting him out of his thoughts. Squinting his eyes, he found out that it was Neko, one of the trusty ANBU guards of the Hokage, that talked to him.

Signaling her to come with him, they went out of the room.

"_Time?_ He wants to _time travel?! _Does he not know how _absurd _the idea of time travelling is? What is he trying to do? Turn back time? He knows that wouldn't happen! It's impossible." Shikamaru exclaimed.

The cat-masked kunoichi just shrugged her shoulders helplessly. "I don't even know myself. He got the idea when the others had to haul him out of his office for working too hard, and Lizard just-" she rolled her eyes, waving her hand-"joked about, 'Hey, dude, man, ya' can't go back time. Ya' keep moving forward.' " she quoted. "Look at what happened. He got an inspiration."

Shikamaru rolled his eyes in agreement.

"But, you know," Yuugao Uzuki continued. "I don't doubt Hokage-sama if he'll ever try to use the seal when it's complete. He has a way of making things impossible." She gained a wistful look in her eyes. "And, probably, change the past… I wonder what would've happen if he ever accomplishes the time-travelling seal." The purple-haired woman thought aloud.

"Probably start from the beginning where everything started to go down…" Shikamaru's eyes lighted in understanding. "The day when we graduated! We were too young back then to take our jobs seriously, we didn't know how dangerous that time was, and, and…." Shikamaru said.

"And..?"

"When the personalities of our generation had developed, which didn't end well.." he trailed off.

"Sasuke, and Itachi, huh?"

"Hai."


	6. The Day Everything Will Change

**Hello, thank you for all the reviews, and those who commented on how I write.**

**I tried better this chapter, I hope you like this! If you don't please, help? Please send a pm or review, it really helps! Arigato! *bows head***

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**Chapter 6- The Day Where Everything Will Change**

"Hat?"

"Check."

"Robes?"

"Here."

"Invitation?"

A tick mark appeared on Naruto's face. "Oh, come on, Baa-chan! I'm already prepared. Hinata-chan had helped me earlier with Sakura-chan. " Rokudaime Hokage Naruto patted his belt. "Everything's sealed in this scroll. Not to worry."

The Slug Sannin nodded. "Good. Be safe on your journey. I'd be watching the village while you're gone." Tsunade assured, crossing her arms.

"Sure. Hopefully, nothing would happen." Naruto spoke.

"Feh. Don't jinx it."

"Sure." He drawled in response. He turned to his guard, Yamato. "Come on, Yamato-taichou. Got to get going." He shifted in his place. "Sheesh. Once, I thought, these robes were cool and all, but when I got to wear it, my reaction is? Heck no. Feels so _weird_, bleh. No more robes until meeting." He mumbled.

Yamato chuckled. "Well, technically, it's supposed to be worn by all Kages."

But Naruto still kept on rambling, very uncharacteristic of the usual cool, calm, Hokage. Well, characteristically for Naruto, anyways. "And the Old Man wore this cloth every day? God, this thing itches."

"Goodbye, Hokage-sama!" yelled a villager.

Schooling his features, he put his Hokage-mode on, and waved to his people. "Goodbye." He muttered.

"Ja matta ne!" Kiba, from the crowd, shouted.

Naruto nodded slightly, waving his hand continuously. Turning back from the crowd, he mumbled, "I wish nothing happens when I'm gone."

"Nothing will happen, Naruto. Seriously, why are you so jumpy?"

**_'I don't know about that.'_**

_'Kyuubi? You too?'_

**_'I don't know. I just can't shake the feeling that something's off.'_**

_'I know.'_

"Yo, Naruto!"

The seventeen-year old looked at the source of the voice. Izumo and Kotetsu, the Eternal Guards of the Gate. Both bowed before looking at him again.

"Kotetsu? Izumo?" he asked, tilting his head.

"Um, how do we say this, 'Zumo?"

"Fine, fine, I'll do it. Take care, Naruto. We just wanted to say one last goodbye to you." Izumo said. He wrung his hands in a nervous manner, like Naruto was going away to a suicide mission or something. The tone in the man's voice worried him greatly.

"Yeah. If ever something goes wrong, remember us!" Kotetsu agreed. The now-jounin scratched his nose tape, and then hugged him like there was no tomorrow, making Naruto splutter.

"Guys, why are you-" the jinchuuriki tried to ask.

The two glanced at each really didn't know why they were behaving that way, but for some reason they just wanted to say goodbye to the kid who they have always watched passing the gates numerous times in the earlier years, saving the village, then the whole world. The brat that a lot of people were annoyed with, who despised the one sealed in him and his pranks, but now their hokage.

"Don't know." Kotetsu admitted. He shifted nervously. "We just.."

"Just?" Naruto repeated.

Kotetsu looked at the expectant guard Yamato walking already."Eh, nothing."

"Hokage-sama, we're running late." Yamato reminded.

The blonde made one more suspicious glance at the two. "Hai. Bye!" he walked beside Yamato cautiously, still trying to decipher why the two reacted like that. So far, he didn't have anything.

Nobody saw it, but after everybody left, but Yamato turned around, eyed the two briefly then turned back, and Izumo and Kotetsu were stabbed from the back and both fell, dead.

* * *

Anko was patrolling the border with her best friend Kurenai when the disasters came.

She had cursed her luck; just in time when their official leader wasn't here, and bombings come from the _inside _of the village were heard. She had run to the source with the Genjutsu Mistress beside her and checked where it was; it was near the Hokage tower, where the Kyuubi jinchuuriki had discussed matters with the Senju princess.

Both women's eyes widened.

"Nai-chan! Wasn't this the place where the blonde gaki talked to that old hag?"

"Anko!" Kurenai reprimanded. "But yes, this was the place."

Anko's eyebrows scrunched in confusion. "I checked this place before they got here. It was clean. Not one seal, bomb, anything! Then who put the explosions?" she asked herself. '_Unless..'_

"Nai-chan, who were the people with the gaki that time?" she asked, fearing for her brother-like friend.

"Erm… Tsunade-sama, and, uhh… Yamato, I guess. What about them?" Kurenai asked, still not getting it. The Snake mistress's eyes widened, remembering the name.

"Yamato-wait, wasn't he the one that I was with in a mission that died?" Anko supplied.

"He was- oh god, no." Kurenai's voice showed realization.

"I made a written report on that day! How come he didn't know?" the purple-haired woman asked.

After the war, they were sent to investigate the Suna attacks that were being reported by the Kazekage to her leader. They were suppose to know what made it, and who was-or were- responsible. They were attacked by these white.. blobs of.. something, and Yamato got pierced in the heart.

Later on, she had filed the report that he died, and was immediately put into T&I, letting no chance for her to know anything.

Kurenai snapped her fingers. "The fake could've interfered. The village's in danger, if that's the case!"

"Yeah. Now we have to put the whole village in alert." The Snake mistress whipped her head and with all her might, shouted "**ANBU! PUT THE VILLAGE IN RED ALERT!"**

Those in hearing range widened their eyes and nodded.

* * *

"Kazekage-sama, is your village still okay?" asked a concerned Mifune.

Subaku no Gaara, the Kazekage of Sunagakure only nodded in response. He was too busy staring at a particular blonde's behavior. His brother in everything but in blood kept glancing at his guard, and the face he kept was like he was having a hard time believing with what he was seeing.

'_Peculiar… why is he doing that?'_

"Hokage-sama, Hokage-sama!" the leader of Tetsu no Kuni called.

"Y-Yeah?" Naruto looked away from his guard and leaned on his chair, trying not to show that he was very nervous about the actions and the _aura _of his guard.

_'Something feels wrong.. like it isn't Yamato-taichou..'_

"Are you done with the seal, for the Zetsu clones, if ever, Hokage-sama?" Mei Terumi asked. Like all other Kages, they were confused with the blonde's behavior. Why the heck did he keep glancing at his guard like that?

"Um, y-yeah, sure. U-huh. Done with it…" he trailed off, and then shot up from his chair, slowly backing away from Yamato. Yamato, in all honesty, was surprised, and began to follow the blonde.

"Hokage-sama…?"

"Who the hell are you?" Naruto asked in a low voice.

"Huh?" was the Raikage's reaction. Why was he asking what his guard's name was?

"Don't follow me. Who the heck are you?" Naruto unsealed his sword from his arm bands and positioned the weapon in front of his subordinate.

'_I couldn't believe it. And under my nose the WHOLE TIME!'_

**_'What do you mean, kit?'_**

"Hokage-sama! Pull yourself together, we will not tolerate this kind of behavior.!" Onoki, the Tsuhikage, ordered. "Now, can we see the seal?"

Naruto nodded, inwardly making a creepy smile- a cross of somebody getting hurt and a sly one. Kurama only shot his eyebrows, while the Kages just cringed; this seal was going to make someone humiliated; they could see it in his eyes; it had a glint.

Naruto showed the seal for everybody to see, and enjoyed the twitching of Tenzo's hands. He explained that the seal would help him with Kyuubi mode, and seal Zetsu's artificial body.

"Do you want a demonstration?" he asked the group. All people nodded, but Chojuro couldn't help but ask, "How would you demonstrate it to us?"

"Oh…" Naruto flickered into his Bijuu mode unexpectedly, and grinned. "Man, I love this." He mumbled.

"Really now?" he continued, and then narrowed his eyes, looking at the wood-user at the end of his vision. He suddenly appeared on top of Yamato, and while in mid-air, put his leg up high, delivered a kick to the head of his target, bashing it on the floor below. He wrote the Zetsu seal on his hand in break-neck speed and slammed his palm on the brown-haired ANBU. Every ninja were shocked.

"Why'd you do that to your own subordinate? Testing him?" Darui asked with his lazy tone, but it had astonishment laced into it.

"Nah." Naruto said, then gained a hard look in his eyes. "Isn't that right, Zetsu?"

'Yamato' suddenly smiled, then his features became distorted, white, and his eyes became yellow.

"_Zetsu!" _ everybody in the room repeated.

"I'm impressed." The now-revealed Zetsu said. "Didn't take you to feel it in Bijuu mode, eh, Naruto? I told you, we were going to mess this up if we did this." White Zetsu complained.

"Pfft." The black side rolled his eyes. "No matter, we were still going to be found, anyway." It turned to the Hokage. "Well? What do you feel now that you've captured me? Feel lighter, perhaps?"

"Maybe." The blonde shrugged.

"Goody! Capturing us had a downside though, you want to know?" the white side asked.

"What do you mean it has a downside, even though we already captured your hide?" Kirabi rapped.

" Yeah, you captured our hide,-" White Zetsu replied.

Naruto felt his tattoo; his own creation; burn in his flesh, signaling that the Hokage tower was disturbed burn, making him flinch. _'What the-'_

_"But did you expect by this action, every ninja in your village has died?" _Zetsu finished.

* * *

Naruto couldn't believe what he was seeing.

Konoha, one of the Hidden villages of each elemental countries and rumored to be the strongest, was no more. Debris was everywhere; houses were burned down, buildings were toppled over each other like dominoes, the hospital was crushed beneath the Tower, people were lying dead left and right on his feet. Ninjas littered the floor. The trusty companions of each shinobi were by their side, may it be animal or weapon. All were stained with blood. All were broken.

He was late, and this was the consequence.

He was late, and nobody was alive anymore.

_'I tried to, really… I went here as fast as I could… But I didn't reach in time..'_

_'… and now, Sasuke's dead because HE was the one here. He sacrificed himself in the hopes that I would reach Konoha ..'_

_'…and now, it's no more. My village is no more.'_

_'Dam* it!'_

When Zetsu proclaimed he killed everybody, he didn't know he could be so ruthless. He didn't know he could be very destructive.

He also met Sasuke Uchiha, his raven-haired teammate, along the way.

Bleeding to death.

_"Sa-Sasuke! What the-"_

_"Hey, Naruto." Sasuke wheezed, obviously having a hard time breathing. "Guess I can't *cough* call you dobe anymore, eh, Hokage-sama?" he said in a strangled voice._

_Naruto prepped his teammate to lean on a tree for support, and attempted to patch him up, but the latter refused to budge. Immediately after the action, he made a shadow clone to be ahead of him, and ordered it to dispel once he knew about everybody's statistics._

_"Funny, Sasuke. Jokes doesn't suit you, I've realized. Now move-." Sasuke only stiffened. "But- Sasuke, I can still heal you! I've trained with the best medic of all time and her apprentice, and I assure you, I'm pretty knowledgeable about this kind of things."_

_"Tss." The Uchiha shook his head. "No can do, I'm pretty sure my stick's going to be burned out."_

_Naruto's eyes widened in realization. "All the more!"_

_Sasuke's face hardened and the Hokage quieted at once as he saw that his former teammate was going to say something._

_"No. I know when it's my limit, not you. Just- just don't let me die in vain."_

_"No, you're not dying, don't leave me… Just like Kakashi-sensei did." Naruto muttered, jerking his head to the left. "How DID you become like that?"_

_"Zetsu." He replied, making Naruto's fists shake in anger. "He had an upgrade, Naruto. We shouldn't have allowed him to leave, much less be alive. In the end he was the most dangerous of all. I admit, didn't see that artificial human being the most dangerous. I thought it'd be Obito or Madara." He gained an impressed look in his eyes. "You have some tough ANBU, Naruto. They fought, till they died. They must be Sannin level or Jounin level or something, since they lasted a long time."_

_"I have to-" Naruto stopped, receiving his clones memories. "Oh,sh*t." he spoke._

_"Yes. Oh sh*t." Sasuke repeated in a somewhat amused/strangled voice. "Now, do you see what I mean? Go. I'm just a ninja. We die. But if you go back to the village and everybody's dead? Is it even worth to be called a village if it is burned and bombed to the ground? Are you going to be comfortable that you weren't there in the crossfire?"_

_Naruto shook his head._

_"Yeah, I may be sounding like a philosopher right now, but it's the truth. You have to hear this if you want to be a good Hokage. But I want to relay, you are one." He said, coughed a few times and glared at the blonde in front of him. "What?"_

_"I vaguely remember that once you wanted to incinerate Konoha to the ground, Sasuke."_

_"Now is NOT the time." The Uchiha growled, attempting to sock him in the face senseless. Attempting._

_"Gomen, gomen." He mumbled._

_"GO!"_

He should have listened to Sasuke faster. He should have used Hiraishin or something.

_He could have done anything._

**_'Hey kit, don't tell me you're going to wallow in sadness because of this, won't you?'_**

_'Hey, Kyuubi. Nah, I'm not going to wallow in sadness and despair.'_

**_'Good-'_**

_'I could just kill myself.'_

**_'NO!' _** Kurama shouted in his container's mind, momentarily forgetting that he was LOUD when shouting. **'****_Is that it? You're just going to kill yourself? Is that how we-I-you- end? Because you committed seppuku? I refuse!'_**

_'Then what do you suggest for me to do? Everybody's dead. Even Zetsu's freaking dead. I don't even know if the other Kages are still alive, Kurama. My team's dead, too. Now it's not only Kakashi, but now it's Yamato, Sakura,Sai, and Sasuke. What's to live for?'_

The Kyuubi no Kitsune laughed loudly in his mindscape._**'I don't really know anymore to what I'm going to think of you. Sometimes you're the calm and collected Hokage, sometimes you're the blundering idiot, sometimes you're the unbelievable genius of certain aspects, sometimes you're the merciful killer, sometimes you're the kind-hearted friend, and overall, you're Naruto. But are you really an idiot?'**_

Naruto frowned, while having a blank face. He put two and together, but his only answer made him splutter in astonishment.

_'Kurama, I know, everybody has died, we're the only ones left, but is using this seal- self-made seal, may I remind you- to the extreme? I don't really know if it would work. Besides, I only got the crazy idea from Bear when he commented on {you can't change anything. Keep moving forward, dude} what I should supposed to do, I only made it for the heck of it.'_

**_'So you didn't make it to use it, just… for the heck of it?' _**his kit was ridiculous.,

_'Yeah. But do you really, really want me to use it? What if it fails? You'd die- or rather, I die, you fade, and whatnot. Don't you care for the implications?'_

**_'I don't care. I just hate seeing you un-Naruto-ish.'_**

**'**_Un-Naruto-ish?'_

**_'You know what I mean. Now do it, ningen .'_**

Naruto nodded and brought out a scroll from his belt and opened it. Scanning the scroll, he selected the 'untested' file and opened it. Recognizing the seal, he drew a deep breath, and closed his eyes. Biting his thumb, he delivered a message to his tenant.

"Hey, Kurama?" he said aloud.

**'Kit?' **Kyuubi perked up.

"Thanks for believing in me. I never could have gone this far without any of your help- but having faith in me that this technique would be a success- it's not enough to express my gratitude. I hope it would work."

**'No problem. You ****_do _****have the habit to the impossible, even without my help. Let's see if that luck would last.' **The Nine-Tails grunted.

The Hokage swiped the blood on his thumb to the seal, and he watched the seal as it glowed and brightened up, then floated. The last thing he saw was a bright light and he blacked out.


	7. A New Time and Adjustments

**Hi again! I was going to update supposedly last weekend, but sadly, I was preoccupied by many things. **

**And please bear to those elements I added even if it didn't really happen in the real timeline, I just put some things so it'd fit my story.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.**

* * *

**Chapter 7- A timeline and its adjustments**

Time travelling has many advantages; you get to go back, change the sh***y life you may have had or correct your past mistakes and make your previous life better. You could probably use it as a 'hahaha, sucker' prank to your enemies and your rivals.

Nobody ever told Naruto it would _ever _hurt like hell.

Naruto tried to let out a scream, but couldn't. Straight streaks of light were seen and passed by him, like he was travelling faster than the speed of light.

'_But that shouldn't happen, that could never happen.' _He was still surprised he could still think even though the pain coursing through him felt like he was boiled in hell. '_Then again, I already- somewhat- travelled to another dimension and fought my other self, I guess that wouldn't be impossible…'_

"Let's see." He mused out loud. Truthfully, he had absolutely no idea why he was still in one piece- or was he? The Rokudaime Hokage felt like he was separated through molecules….

And he had no idea what to do in the past. He just knew he wanted to change the future. His past. And change the past. Or was it his future?

_'Great, I can even give myself a headache. So…. Save my friends, every one of them. Stop Akatsuki from getting the jinchuurikis. Stop Sasuke from going to the darkness. Stop the others from dying. Stop… Stop….' _He listed a lot more.

'_And why do I feel a lot calmer, considering I'm in a dangerous situation? No, I've always been calm. Sakura-chan just makes me nervous. And that reminds me, I have to stop her hitting me. Tsunade-baa-chan told me I had a brain tumor in my brain, and a blood clot caused by repeated punches.'_

_'But, she laughed in the end. Was she bluffing? But she looked so concerned. Yet she punched me afterwards. A light punch, she had explained, but both of their punches were beyond from 'normal.'_

_'Now where was I?'_

He didn't get to answer his own question when he was suddenly jerked to the end of the... whatever he was travelling in.

* * *

Kurama, the Kyuubi no Kitsune, prided to be the most powerful of the nine bijuus and world-renown as the most ruthless, merciless, and dangerous demon destroyer of people, was currently, gaping.

He was staring at the unconscious blonde lying in front of him, chest heaving up and down, tired. Due to chakra exhaustion from performing the seal.

And by Kami, his container had _really _defied all odds.

Yeah, even he knew that ninjas weren't supposed to have chakra at all, control the elements with affinities, walk on walls, walk on water, fly, glide, control shadows, transfer their mind, bring back the dead, change bodies by transferring your soul, make a doppelganger , destroy establishments with a punch, have speed that can rival sound, copy techniques/see the tenketsus in a human body with your eye, control gravity, control life and death, summon animals unimaginable, seal things in a scroll, teleport, yeah, the stuff.

But go back in time, with the usage of a _seal? _And he created the seal because of the heck of it?

UNBELIEVABLE.

Success.

He had time travelled.

He had time travelled.

He had time travelled.

Well, there was this one time… everything was so hazy his container couldn't even remember-they had time travelled, but even that had a limit. This was… He had time travelled….

Permanently.

** "Naruto.. You are one interesting person indeed." **Kyuubi grumbled.

After a few hours, Kyuubi watched as the whiskered-teen in front of him groaned and opened his eyes. He stretched and yawned at the same time and glanced at Kurama.

"Hey, Kurama. How's it going?" he asked casually.

**"Oh, the usual. I need some rabbits, usual stuff. Time travel must have a toll on you, doesn't it?" **the fox replied, mimicking the blonde's tone as he saw he wasn't fully awake yet.

"Time Travel…" the future Hokage mumbled. "Wait, Time Travelled? I succeeded?" he calmly asked, eyes betraying him as they widened in astonishment.

Kurama would have quirked an eyebrow if she had one with the different reaction that she had received than what she was expecting.

"*ahem*. I succeeded in time travelling. Great. Woohoo. " he 'exclaimed'. He looked up to Kyuubi. "What?"

**"What did time travel do to you?" s**he asked in a monotone voice.

"What do you mean by what did time travel do to me? I don't feel anything that has changed."

**" Nothing? You seem….calmer. Could I talk to the more sensible guy I know, the one that I had from the start,'cause if I don't, I'm not helping." **Kurama continued.

"I assure you, I am he." Naruto assumed a serious stance. Kurama knew it was Naruto, but the personality was kind of like…. The Hokage mode plus Kakashi's and Asuma's personalities added. And the speech patternwas also strange."Now that I have travelled back to what- I don't even know the year- I assumed that I would have a new identity. Probably be reinstated as a Konoha shinobi. Change my appearance, then what… bypassing the security of the Sandaime-jiji would be hard since he always analyzes the things that he signs, so how could we slip through?"

**"I prefer ****_not _****slipping through his grasp." **Kurama spoke, filing her suspicions for later investigation. **"I'd rather tell him my true identity, with proof, of course, than let him help keep your identity a secret. Let's say, like SS- class secret. He would understand."**

"Sure, that's good. But won't my identity create a paradox, from me being here and my past self-existing?" he asked the legendary being.

**"Sure, it would. That's what's bothering me- there hasn't been any sign, no fluctuation of chakra nor physical pain to tell me you, being here, made a patadox of your younger self. But,nonetheless, let's be thankful. You can make that permanent seal for Henge that you used when you eliminated that tyrant from the land of Rice."**

"Thanks, Kyuubi. Well, got to go. I have many things to do. Oh, wait-" he looked back at Kurama. "Which would you prefer, I was a hunter-nin, and I quit because I wanted to become jounin instead, or I was in ANBU, and I took a break from it? What's better?"

**"That sounds too… cliché, you know what I mean? I'd rather like, you were in this village, and this particular village was your home, and you were some kind of a leader there, akin to a jounin, I guess. Then, one day, you're village got destroyed, leaving you as the sole survivor. The end."**

"Hmm… yeah. Wait, then I wanted to continue serving other people and fight being a ninja, I went here to get a license, and I'll tell I'm somewhat of a jounin. There. Is that okay? And it would explain why I have seen so much sadness. Gaara told me I have eyes that I have eyes for a person who has seen war." the blonde asked.

**"Yes."**

"But, what if a Yamanaka would probe my mind? Won't they see you? Or my memories?"

**"Baka." **The giant fox muttered. **"They only do that when you're a threat to the village. Isn't that why you're going to talk to the Sandaime about this? To back you up. Then you could you relax, and hope you wouldn't slip up with your disguise. There are ****_very _****smart people there."**

"Shikaku Nara and his clan. Yeah, I have to be careful. Thanks for the heads up. I'm leaving."

**"Hm."**

* * *

The jinchuuriki snapped out of his conscious, finally realizing where he was; the Valley of the End.

Naruto smiled as he reminisced about the important event that had happened- scratch that, which would _never _happen- when he fought with his teammate.

Sasuke Uchiha, the last person he had seen alive.

But he was going to change everything now; he will take care of himself, his teammates/his best friends(Haruno,Uchiha and Hatake plus his surname-less pale friend), Rookie Nine, The Third Hokage, The Fifth, everybody.

He continued to walk, as he found himself ironically in the middle of the riverbanks, where he had previously- or was it going to be it going to be?- landed, where his sensei had found him.

"*sigh*… So many memories…" he wistfully smiled, crouching, dipping his hand through the water. "And when I always look back, I just…"

Splashing his face with water, he stood up, dusting his clothes. He headed towards the direction of his village, Konohagakure no Sato, the Village Hidden in the Leaves.

* * *

The village was frustrating.

The security- Kami, he had slipped through them! No wonder letting ANBU chase you day after day can make you have good reflexes and memorization of every path in Konoha. Useful indeed.

The people- ninjas, he meant- were clueless. Nobody noticed him. Well, if you had counted a 'calm' Kakashi and a 'youthful' Gai on a 'challenge' (if Naruto didn't know better, the gray-haired man was calm. To become his best friend, you needed to look 'underneath the underneath', meaning you have to be very skillful to hide and detect these emotions, and he could sense Kakashi's twitching eyebrow.)

His breath had hitched at the mere thought of his best friend-sensei-comrade-equal. Even though he had mentally prepared for these things, even asking Kurama for help, he couldn't just afford to… to do this without remembering that they had _died, _and he was the only one left _alive. _That he saw everybody _die. _That he wasn't there to save them….

He disappeared from his spot as Kakashi had silently wandered his eyes to his previous position, but he shrugged it off, continuing his 'hip' attitude. Gai's mouth had twitched at the same time.

_'I miss these times…. Them having challenges and rivalries and the eccentries. Kakashi being there, Gai being his old self… After Kakashi had died, nobody was the same. Heh. Especially me.'_

_'At least not everybody's rusty. No wonder Konoha almost fell under the siege of Suna and Oto. Reminds me, I also have to prevent that invasion…'_

He henged into a civilian and wandered through the streets, and -another mental curse- the ANBU had shrugged it off. Not one suspected him.

_'I have to tell the old man about the state of his ninjas.'_

Looking ahead, he gazed at his current destination, smirking. Bypass the Hokage tower.

'_Let's see what'll happen now that I'm added to the fun, shall we?'_

* * *

**Review! =^_^=**


	8. Meetings

**Hi, people of the universe who reads my story! **

**BCFireShadow, here!**

**I didn't update last week, and for this week, this'll be my chapter. I'm so excited,eheh.**

**Here's the chapter, and remember, I DON'T own Naruto. Only Masashi-Kishomoto-sensei does.**

* * *

**Chapter 8- Relaying the Message, and some of the Adjustments**

Hiruzen Sarutobi was having a good day. He just came from a meeting earlier, saying 'why the heck did you make the jinchuuriki/demon enroll', 'where's my pet cat, Sandaime-san', 'why is the Last Uchiha in the academy, isn't he supposed to be apprenticed/ shouldn't he be with the elites', 'could somebody clean my garden', and all that.

_'Yes.'_he frankly thought. _'What a nice day. More paperwork.'_

He silently wished something would happen. A miracle, maybe.

"DYNAMIC ENTRY!"

*CRASH*

"AH!"

"SORRY HOKAGE-SAMA FOR DESTROYING YOUR DOOR!"  
"Gai, the knob's broken."

"KAKASHI MY YOUTHFUL RIVAL, I CANNOT TOLERATE YOUR-"

**"SILENCE!"**

A spandex-wearing jounin and a gravity-defying hair of gray were seen.

"I'm sorry, Hokage-sama. Gai's…possibly more eccentric than before." The one-eyed jounin apologized. _Great. More eccentric? Now he had to deal with these things too? Was he paid enough for this?_

'_Gai… really now..?'_

"State your business, jounin." Hiruzen said in a bored tone.

"Sir, we think we have an infiltrator in the village. We sensed him earlier when we were having our 'challenge.' He didn't seem to be a threat to the village though. I don't know. I don't sense him anymore." Kakashi said.

"To hide from us, you could have a chakra suppression seal that is very effective, High Jounin capacity, or Kage/ Sannin capacity. We don't know."

Sarutobi was about to respond when his secretary strode in with a troubled look on her face. She nodded her head towards the two jounin in the room, and leaned over to talk to the Hokage.

"Hokage-sama, there is a 'civilian' outside. He told me to tell you,-"she whispered in a lower tone,"- Code 640."

The Sandaime's breathing hitched. '_Code 640?! This is no ordinary civilian. And he means business.'_

"We'll let him in in a while." he finally ordered. His secretary nodded and went back.

"What was that, Sandaime-sama?" Gai asked seriously.

"A report came from the gates. Seems like another ninja with a chakra seal of my wayward student was tasked to get the Forbidden Scroll again, since our chuunin failed by the hands of Uzumaki Naruto and Umino Iruka."

"Ah." Kakashi realized. "We understand."

_'Good. They bought the lie. Now I have to send them about with no suspicion at all.' _"Any more concerns?" he asked kindly.

"None, sir." both answered.

"Okay. I have a meeting _supposedly _when you came in. I have to apologize to him now."

"Ah. Hai."

Both shook their heads 'goodbye' and shunshined out of the room.

"Now." The Hokage said, schooling his features. He made a hand sign to order the current ANBUs guarding him to leave and they reluctantly complied. "Send him in."

* * *

Current Hokage stared at the Future Hokage. Both stared back at each other.

"Hello. Are you a civilian?" Hiruzen asked kindly.

"Nope." The man in front of him answered bluntly. He wanted to be blunt as possible, let him know he was from the future, and cry for old time's sake. Seeing the old man stare at him at like that, like when he was younger… He just wanted to hug him and cry all his sadness.

**'****_Sissy.'_** Kyuubi thought. But at least his container didn't hear that, the last thing he wanted to do was his sleep to be disturbed because of his anger.

"Are you an enemy?"

"Nope. Never was in the first place. Why the heck would I do that? Attack the village, I mean. And I'm here, hands in surrendering position."

Interesting. This man in front of him has….a very keen sense of humor.

"Then, who are you?" he asked finally.

The man's eyes steeled. "Are your privacy seals up? Are your ANBU already gone?"

The Hokage frowned. "I had earlier. It's always put up if it's Code 460." He narrowed his eyes. "How did you know that, specifically? Only Kages knew that. Even my top jounins don't know that. Who. Are. You?" he punctuated. He gave a lot of killer intent, trying to make the civilian scared. He failed.

The civilian sighed and released the henge. "It's good to see you.." the smoke cleared, making the Hokage's jaw drop. "Jiji."

"Y-Yondaime.." he stuttered.

"Eh?" 'Minato' exclaimed, surprised. "No! I'm not him. Look more closely."

_'Do I look like Dad so much…?_

He looked at him and he was more surprised than earlier. He had whisker marks, but it was faint, hard to see or notice in first glance. He was tall, and had a couple of red streaks at the ends of his hair. He also had an aura of confidence and calmness.

"Naruto?" he doubtedly said. "But how…" The confidence part he could understand. His surrogate grandson actually was actually overconfident. But calmness?

He already doubted the man in front of him wasn't Naruto, but actually Minato… The word 'calm' had never been used as a description of Naruto. He was too hyperactive, boisterous, outspoken, rude, stubborn, disrespectful…

For some reason, in Naruto's seal, Kurama knew Hiruzen was also thinking about the personality change….

"Yeah, it's me. Two words." He lifted two fingers. "Time. Travel."

The third resisted to say, 'Yeah, right. You're bluffing.' from the statement, time travel, personality change? "Wow. Time travel… Very funny."

"It's true." Naruto nodded. "Look, I even got Tsunade-baa-chan's necklace, Ero-Sennin's mark for Rasengan, Kakashi's bells, here, on my necklace….."

"Where'd you get that?" Hiruzen asked, astonished. "Oh wait, better yet, tell me something only Naruto may know." He said.

"I'm the son of Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki, godson of Jiraiya.." he trailed off as he saw the old hokage put up his hand.

"Tell me something I would only know." Hiruzen asked, eyes boring into the blonde's eyes.

Konran's eyes watered. "When I was little, you'd always comfort me. Bring me to ramen. You were the first one to look at me not like a monster. You showed me the next people that would care for me- Teuchi-oji-san and Ayame-nee-chan. You told me even though I like ramen, sometimes Teuchi-oji-san would treat me to a healthier lunch…" he said wistfully. "And then, you patted me on the head and said, "I know you'll be great, Naruto-kun… I believe in you."

Hiruzen was startled at the raw emotion the man in front of him was emitting. He no doubt believed he was his surrogate grandson, even if it was unbelievable. "Naruto…" he patted the Okay, I believe you. You time travelled, as much as absurd it may sound, I believe you. So… times must have been dire in the future if you were that desperate."

"Desperate?" the blonde repeated, then chuckled hollowly. Hiruzen was startled at the action. Was it really that difficult in those times ahead?

"I wasn't desperate, old man." he sadly said after. "I was alone. Nobody survived. Everybody was dead. I was the Rokudaime Hokage, old man, for a freaking year. And Konoha was razed to the ground when I was in a meeting outside the vicinity." His hands trembled. "And the only person that I could be with within that timeline wasn't even a person: Kyuubi."

"Oh." Was the only thing Hiruzen managed to say after the monologue. What could he say? _I'm so sorry that happened? _Looking at the current situation, he asked, "Do you know what year it is?"

"Truthfully? I have no idea. I made the seal for fun. I had no idea I would _really _do it, jiji."

"You took the risk just to change everything?"

"Yeah." The jinchuuriki replied. "What? I had to. I may have been transported by the time of my Dad, or to yours, or to the Sannin, or to your senseis, and the furthermost would be the Rikudou Sennin's era. I don't know. I didn't care."

"Well, you're in luck. It's just the time when you're enrolled in the Academy."

"I'm still nine? Oh, wow."

_'Kurama, you awake?'_

Kurama faked a yawn, 'waking up' and putting his paws in front of her. She had been intent on why her container suddenly became like Minato. **_'*grunt* I'm awake. What do you want?'_**

'_I'm still nine years old in this timeline. We have to change our plan. Any suggestions?'_

**_'You could be a hunter-nin, perhaps.'_**

"Could I be stated as a Konoha shinobi… a hunter –nin, perhaps? So I could… stay away from Konoha for a while."

"Trying to sort your memories, perhaps?" the wizened leader asked in understanding.

"Hai." Truthfully, he just couldn't bear to see them-or any Konoha ninja- at the current time, their deaths still fresh in his mind. And he wanted to get away from Naruto- his counterpart- because it would trigger him to wish _he _was there, not the kid.

"What would be your name, perhaps?"

"Odayakana Konran." He answered after.

"Calm maelstrom? Nice name. It fits." Hiruzen wrote something on a paper. "Your mask?"

"Kitsune."

"Oh yeah. Sure."

The Sandaime handed the Rokudaime a Kitsune mask, which in turn made the latter's eyebrow lift up in surprise.

"I made one, if you ever register to ANBU. Since you're still young in this timeline, I should give it to you." the third nonchalantly said.

"Oh." He placed a seal on his arm, making his hair stand into a different position, and his whisker marks to fade completely. His ANBU tattoo disappeared also, changed his eyes, since it was now narrowed, just like his father, it would be better to make it violet, a mix of red and blue(his father's and mother's respective colors) and Kyuubi secretly put black lines in his eyes. He was a complete different person, in a henge perhaps, but had a permanent seal.

"Odayakana Konran, I promote you to hunter ninja, a ninja under me that would serve with loyalty and obediently. I expect great things from you." Hiruzen looked expectantly at 'Konran', mentally saying, '_really _expect great things from you."

Konran put the mask on his face. "Arigato gozaimasu, Hokage-sama."

Thus, a new adventure of Naruto Uzumaki now dubbed as Koran Odayakana has started, now as a hunter ninja.

* * *

There were a few changes in this timeline though; minor changes, but he was intent in changing it so it could be patterned to his former timeline.

As a hunter-nin, 'Konran' met Umino Iruka, his former academy teacher, in a mission, bleeding heavily. He had helped the scarred ninja as he made a Shadow clone to heal him, and defeat the A-rank ninja he was tracking. The two quickly became friends, and both were relaxed with each other, mission or not.

That was the _first _minor detail different; Iruka was a hunter-nin. Sometimes though, they took time playing with the academy students, and Iruka admitted afterwards he was not really into hunter-nin. 'Konran' had asked why, yet Iruka didn't tell anything further. They still continued doing missions, though.

What he didn't know that Iruka had seen him wake up suddenly when they were in a mission, pale, sweating, eyes widened in fear. He had a dream of everyone's dying face that day. The next day Iruka fussed about things like nightmares disturbing his sleep, and tried to force him to tell him what was wrong.

He had shrugged the worries off, saying he needn't worry, but Iruka didn't forget the incident.

That did not stop Naruto from restraining himself not to cry when he saw him, though. When he saw the scar-nosed man fuss, worry for him, he saw a shadow of his former-chuunin teacher, he almost lost it.

He also became friends with Morino Ibiki, head of T&I department of Konohagakure. The gruff man became his friend when he would usually bring enemies to him for interrogation. Sometimes, he would also pitch in and, in Ibiki's words, 'scary? Horrifying? Tch. Torture and interrogation is fun. And if you're a sissy, this isn't your place.'

Nice man, actually. Both in his past, and present. Just… loves to torture, and have new clients.

Second change was actually Inoichi Yamanaka, here he balanced being an interrogator _and _a florist.

Well, he didn't know much about that man, but Ino-in the academy days- told Sakura (he was eavesdropping, sue him) that her father was a jounin, and only took missions if the Hokage needed to.

Inoichi Yamanaka….Ibiki's partner, was a little… subtler than him, yet they still got along. Sometimes he helped him with the Yamanaka flower shop, where he met his wife. Nice woman. Ino seemed to be always with Sakura, so Konran didn't care.

Anko, well…. She was still Anko, much like his younger self, daring, one hell of a kunoichi. He viewed her like an older sister, but she treated him as a…. lover… yeah.

Yeah. His three years becoming a hunter was fun, indeed. He became mature too (A little).

He didn't know he was just fooling himself.


	9. Being The Sensei

**Hi!**

**I'm very happy to all who reviewed my story, it really boosts up my spirit! And oh, if you have any comments on my grammar since it isn't my native language, or have suggestions for my story, please do, or PM me! I'll be happy to.**

**(Hey, is there anybody out there who's very creeped out of Kurama being a girl? I mean, yeah, I respect the decisions of Kishomoto-san, but... the idea of that had creeped the hell out of me. I always type he, but remember she's a ****_she_****, so...)**

**Anyways, here's the new chapter! If this didn't happen in the anime, then where'd I see it?!**

**Meh. Go on and read!**

* * *

**Chapter 9- Being Your Teacher**

Four years.

It took the Kyuubi no Kitsune _four years,_ four freaking years to know why Naruto changed from a hyperactive Hokage to a calm one.

Now, Naruto had developed a 'Hokage mode' façade towards his ninja when having a serious meeting, otherwise he was still his normal self, What changed after the time travel was that he was calm all the time, yet he still had that 'fun side' he possesses(as what that Hyuuga fangirl of his had stated).

And the answer?

It was always that _damned Nara. _Shikamaru Nara, laziest person alive, was the reason. A Nara was truly a genius, they were _so _cunning, especially him. Kurama had inspected the seal from Naruto's memory, compared it before and after (like that game humans play, Spot the Difference, only in this circumstance the seal was completely the same) and had found foreign chakra.

It turns out that that lazy ass had thought a strategy- a plan from the time he had seen the seal Naruto had created when he was looking at the desk. For being a non-fuuin master, or had limited knowledge of the sealing arts, the wish he had put into the seal was granted.

He had put his hand on the seal and put a little of his chakra and wrote, 'This user shall have a different personality from the original because this will help the user hide his or her true identity to anybody. The user, by this circumstance, will not experience any form of paradox to his or her current self.'

That Kami dam*ed Nara.

Making her ponder on the reasons why there was absolutely no paradox and the personality change.

…. Well, she supposed a whisper of 'thank you' was already enough….

* * *

"Hokage-sama." Two voices rang in the room. "Mission complete."

Iruka smiled beneath his mask. He really liked being a hunter-nin, all the more his best friend was there;

Odayakana Konran.

He was very peculiar, Iruka noted. He was taller than him, about 6"3, had a strong physique, blonde hair with red streaks at the end, had violet eyes, and wore different suits alternately. Accompanied with an always calm and cool aura, had a vast array of jutsu- he had only seen the guy perform five, and it was each of the elements!- and his taijutsu was impressive, he was also very friendly.

His best friend, too. He also was a fanatic of Ramen.

"Ah, good for you two, Fox, Dolphin. Any other concerns?" Hiruzen asked.

"None, Hokage-sama." Kitsune replied.

"Fox." Dolphin called, eliciting a glance from his teammate. "Wait for me outside."

"Sure."

Fox closed the door and both waited him till his chakra signature was gone.

"Remove your mask, Iruka."

Iruka complied and took of his mask, eyes twinkling. "Hello, Hokage-sama."

"Hello. What's this about retirement from hunter status, eh, Iruka?" the Sandaime asked. He shuffled the papers on his table and placed them on the side. The old Hokage wrapped his hands together.

"I… wanted to. Figured out I'd be into teaching more.." Iruka mumbled.

"Oh? What's the reason?"

" A calling to be a teacher more… the reason? It's because I wanted to pass on the will of fire, I guess." Iruka said, mumbling. "Is that a valid reason? I don't know…."

The Hokage chuckled. "Oh, yes. I knew it from the start. Now. If you want to become an academy sensei, you have to be a chuunin. And you have to deal with so many kids. All have different personalities. Almost every chuunin just backed down so they can get away from those 'little brats'. Are you up to the challenge?"

"Are you kidding me?" the going-to-be-former-hunter-nin smirked. "Me, back down from the challenge? If there's anything Konran taught me, is never to back down from a challenge." He said with fires in his eyes. He looked up to his leader who was looking at was gazing at him with mirth, which he blushed furiously. "Okay, maybe a _little _too much."

Hiruzen smiled inwardly. _'Naruto eh?'_

"Okay. I will be removing Dolphin from hunter-nin status, and be placing him on Chuunin level status. Is that correct, Iruka?"

"Hai."

Iruka bowed, gave the Hokage his mask and accepted the chuunin vest his leader was holding.

"Thank you, Hokage-sama."

"You're welcome, Chuunin Iruka."

* * *

"Wait, you're teaching academy students, Iruka?"

Iruka nodded at his best friend, waiting for his response.

"Well," he shrugged, a smile appearing on his lips. "That's cool. At least you get to meet a lot of people, teach, those kind of stuff. I'd be probably following your steps or something." He replied.

"Become an Academy teacher?! I don't think so, Konran."

"And why is that?" he retorted.

"You seem to be a _real _sensei, or captain, than an academy teacher."

"Are you saying academy teachers are fake senseis?"

Iruka spluttered in response. "No, no, no, no, no! Nothing like that. Like, you're good at teaching students how to fight or do things."

"And how may you know that?" Konran raised his eyebrow.

The scarred chuunin can only deadpan, and held up his fingers, and began folding them as he counted. "You taught the hunter-nin's on your first year how to effectively capture or kill enemies. On that same year, you taught a technique to survive a fight without chakra exhaustion. On your third year, you defeated ninjas from the other village and taught them what _really _was the correct side, and we became friends with them. Also, you practically upgraded all the hunter-nin's capabilities. Last but not the least, your fellow friends from the T&I department call you, Odayakana-sensei, on par with Morino-sensei."

He turned to the blonde and chuckled at his blank face.

"Whatever." The taller ninja brushed off, walking towards Yakiniku Q.

Iruka just smiled.

* * *

"Iruka… you can do it. Seriously, you can."

"B-But, what if I become too hard in being a teacher? I'm a former hunter ninja, Konran! What if I mess up? What if I fail in teaching them what they need? What if they get intimidated? What if…."

Konran sighed, rubbing his temples with his fingers. His teammate was such a worrywart. Well, if he needed to go to desperate measures just to fix this timeline, then it needed to be done.

Slap.

"K-Konran-" Iruka clutched his rapidly reddening cheek. "Wha-what?"

The time traveller's eyebrow twitched in annoyance. "Iruka… why don't you first check the kids out? Before you whine and worry, I mean. And you're my partner, for Kami's sake!" he glowered angrily. "I didn't encourage you if I didn't _know _you can do it!"

Iruka looked down.

"Look, look. The academy students that you will be teaching will be having their one hour break for lunch after thirty minutes. If you want to know how they act so you will be able to handle them, go." He didn't have to tell he still memorized the Academy schedule that was given to his. He _had _to know when to skip class, when to avoid the teachers who made him feel isolated and when to come.

"How do you- never mind. You seem to know things I don't even know, even despite me being the one longer in this village." Iruka sighed, tugging his ponytail. "Alright. I'll see what I can do."

* * *

Iruka strode confidently through the halls, occasionally seeing the students run and play. _Class 11 _was written on the paper Konran had given him. _Students are mostly civilians, potential ninjas and children of the clans. _A drop of sweat appeared on his forehead. Konran didn't brief him about the clan children. He peered again, turning the paper around. _Mostly from clan heads._

_'Uh oh.' _The brand new chuunin thought, nervous than ever. '_What if their parents don't like how I teach? What if they're dissatisfied and label me as a bad teacher? What if they say I should be a genin?'_

He didn't realize he already reached the playgrounds until he bumped into someone.

"Mizuki!" he exclaimed, seeing his best friend. "I haven't seen you in a long time!"

The silver/gray-haired man smiled. "Hey, didn't you say you're a hunter-nin? What are you doing here?" He looked back. "Don't tell me the Will of Fire speech of the Sandaime has gotten to you." He absently said. Hearing no response, he looked at the scar-nosed man. "It did, didn't it?"

"Haaaaaaiiiiiii." Iruka drawled. Seeing a chance to get help, he asked, "Um, Mizuki… Do you know Class 11? I'm supposed to teach them next academy year, and I'd like if I get to know them more before I teach them."

At the mention of Class 11, Mizuki's eyes widened, but quickly schooled his features. "Class Eleven? Sure I do! They're having a break." He pointed to the other sied of the hall. Iruka gave a quick thanks, but was stopped before he could move.

"Iruka, just let me know if you need help in handling your class, being new and all. I could help you as a secretary." Mizuki offered with fake sincere,which Iruka secretly noticed, making him frown inside. He mistook it asa messago of being unavailable but being nice to the newcomer, so he shook his head no.

"Nah, Mizuki…. You look like you got your hands full. I can handle this nicely."

Mizuki patted his shoulder. "Good luck, I'm here if you need me." He walked slowly, and Iruka never noticed the smirk plastered on Mizuki's face.

'_Kyuubi… I WILL get you.'_

* * *

Iruka gulped. The seven clan heads' children _were _there. Anxiety built in him when he saw them. '_I'm dead, I'mdeadI'mdeadI'mdeadI'mdead!"_ he kept repeating in his mind.

"Uh, excuse me." A voice below him called. "You're blocking the view of the sky." Iruka sidestepped and looked at the boy beside him.

"Aaah, gomen, gomen…" Iruka apologized. Shikamaru Nara, the kid, narrowed his eyes.

"You're going to be a teacher, huh?"

Iruka glanced at the 11 year old in shock. "Wha.. How did you know?"

"Pretty obvious, 'cause nobody outside the Academy staff can watch us here." The Nara said, yawning. "And if you're going to handle us, our class, you need to be prepared. They're very…. Troublesome, if you ask me."

The brown-haired chuunin furrowed his eyebrows in thought. What would be too troublesome with handling a bunch of kids? Seeing the chuunin's confused space confirming that this guy _is _actually new, Shikamaru sighed.

"Mendokuse…. Why am I explaining this?" he muttered to himself.

Pointing towards the directions of his other classmates, he began todescribe them one by one, the usual '_mendokuse' _and yawn in between. Iruka took note of the personalities of each student and devised a way to handle them diligently, but suddenly stopped when he heard the last one.

"That guy's the most troublesome of all, Uzumaki Naruto." Shikamaru pointed towards a boy alone on a swing. "He loves pranks and Ramen, so you better watch out, because all of the teachers always muttered a 'what a pain in the neck', so you need to really test your patience with Naruto. For some reason, a lot of teachers seem to hate him on first glance. Don't really know about it." Shikamaru elaborated. He looked at the man beside him. "Do you?"

Iruka hastily stood up, thanked the Nara profusely and hurried away, and a frown showed on Shikamaru's face.

"So he's one of them too, huh… And I thought he'd be different."

* * *

Iruka wasn't sure if he wanted to become an academy teacher if he was going to teach the Kyuubi- Naruto.

He really wanted to teach, but, how could he? _He _was there. The reason why his parents died was there. Why he was orphaned, why he was alone, why he never experienced being congratulated of passing genin.

They were killed on the night of the Kyuubi attack, and he was never more than thankful for the Fourth's sacrifice to defend the village from the Kyuubi. Yet, when he learned of Naruto, he was livid.

He had cried on his parents' burial place. That was the reason why he didn't even want to be near him.

But on the other side, he was ashamed.

He didn't want to teach because of him? Naruto was also an orphan, like him. '_But… it's so hard.'_

"What am I going to do?" he muttered to himself, sitting on a bench. "What am I going to do….?"

* * *

"Konran… I'm sorry, heh, I don't want to be an academy teacher after all." Iruka started after the Odayakana had welcomed him into his home. Konran prepared the tea while looking calm. On the inside though, he was freaking out why his former (in his timeline) didn't want to be a teacher- the once self-proclaimed best teacher said that.

"Why's that?" he asked, stirring the sugar cube in his tea and offering the other cup to Iruka.

"Konran… the Kyuubi… He was there. He's going to be one of my students."

* * *

"Oh, Iruka…?" a silver-haired man looked up from his book, stopping from walking. "What are you doing there, reading about the Kyuubi attack?" he asked, noticing the cover.

Iruka sighed, lowering the felt low like dirt. "Um… A friend of mine told me- '_well,forced me to'-_ to read this book and understand every detail." Truthfully, he was learning a lot of things.

Kakashi tucked his book away, sighing. "This is about Naruto Uzumaki, isn't it?" When he received a quiet nod in return, he sighed once again. "Why?" '_And why did your friend wanted to let you read the article about it?'_

"He's going to be my student, actually." The chuunin clarified, feeling more downtrodden that ever. "I became an academy teacher because I wanted to teach, but, no, I backed down because Uzumaki Naruto was there. And he's angry at me because I was being stupid."

"Well, I don't know about your friend, but he's right. Open to page 34, Iruka." Kakashi motioned with a wave of a hand. Iruka obediently did what the jounin told, and saw the title: The Fourth's Sacrifice. "Now, look at the sixth line, and read it."

The brown-haired man pondered for a little why the one-eyed man knew the line, but shrugged it as because he was the Yondaime's student. Iruka located the sentence and read aloud, "The Fourth quickly sealed the Nine-Tails into the baby by _Shiki Fuuin, _a seal he had developed himself to contain the chakra beast. Through this, the baby was made as the _Jailor _of the Kyuubi no Yoko, not the Kyuubi possessed."

Iruka's eyes widened, realizing his mistake as Kakashi said, "He's not the Kyuubi, Iruka, and you shouldn't be hostile towards him, it wasn't his fault. Yondaime-sensei always made sure his seals were functional. And also, nobody has the right to judge Naruto- being alone and scorned, yet he actually houses the most powerful of the bijuu. Actually, we have to thank him. I don't know about you, but by being understanding to him- even by a little- may be the only way of expressing our gratitude towards the things Naruto has done for us."

The words Konran had angrily said tohim when he told him he hated the Kyuubi._'Naruto Uzumaki is NOT the Kyuubi. You have no idea what Uzumaki Naruto had done to all of us. What burden he shoulders, not even knowing why people hate him. Iruka… I expected more from you.I never thought you'd be one of them.'_

Kakashi stood up. "Ponder on that. We all have our fair share of opinion of Naruto- but try knowing him for a little. And then, you will know what the _true _meaning of the Will of Fire means." He walked away, vanishing in a shunshin.

Iruka closed the book, feeling renewed. He wasn't going to be an Academy teacher because of Naruto- he was going to be a teacher _for _Naruto. Closing the book, he squinted on the name of the author of the book.

_Hatake Kakashi._

* * *

You know, it hurt.

It hurt Konran- _Naruto- _Odayakana that his Academy teacher once thought of him like that- that he was actually the Kyuubi. The man he had looked up to all the time, the one who ate Ramen with him and sometimes paid for him, actually hates him.

It was a depressing thought, and sending him out of his house was the least expected thing he would do to the man,but, if it meant he had to introduce Iruka to Naruto-he _was _the reason why he hadn't quitted being a ninja, convincing him he wasn't actually the Kyuubi, but himself- he had to.

His doorbell sounded, and all he could do was drag himself, '_Kami, what if Ero-Sennin and Kakashi didn't also like me? What would happen to me?'_ and opened the door boredly and was met with the face of said Iruka.

"What?" he asked in monotone, trying to portray he was still angry yet calm.

Iruka looked up, with fire burning in his eyes, and declared something that made secretly Konran dance and cheer inside."You were right. I was wrong. I realized my mistake."

"I'll be the teacher of Uzumaki Naruto's class."

* * *

**Please review! *pleads***


	10. A Lesson to Remember

**Hello, people of the Internet (what?!) BCFireShadow he-he-here!**

**I'm updating again for all those who followed, favorite-ed, and reviewed for my chapter! Thank you, and my reviews are more than twice the number of chapters I have!**

***Alleluia verse playing in my head* Thank you, thank you.**

**Finals are nearing, so maybe I'll be updating slower... Maybe. I WILL FIND A WAY FOR YOU GUYS!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.**

* * *

**Chapter 10: A Lesson to Remember- Who is better?**

"GET OUT!"

All academy students cowered under their desks as their unusually super angry sensei yelled at his secretary. The man had 'accidentally' bonked on another student, and the result was utter chaos.

"*sigh* Well class," Iruka looked at his students. "How many secretaries have I had… Chouji?" he called.

"*crunch* The fifth, sensei." The big-boned 12 year-old replied from the back.

It had been a year since Iruka had applied Academy Sensei status, and might he say, he really enjoyed his job. He learned a lot of things, taught a lot of things, but the stress that comes with it always vanished away when he learns that they actually like him as a sensei.

Chouji liked to skip classes, albeit not that much. He also liked eating, even during class. The difference was when having their break he ate loudly and eats a lot, in class he ate quietly, one bag each class.

"Ne, ne, Iruka-sensei?" a kid from the back garnered his attention. His (secret favorite) student, Uzumaki Naruto. Blonde haired, whiskered cheeks, like to use orange, addicted to ramen, and container of Kyuubi. "Why don't you ask your friends to be your secretaries? Like close ones?"

Iruka had learned that Naruto was actually an orphan of the lowest degree- no friends, always being hated, always being scorned, always alone. He was so ashamed of what he first thought of him and gradually wanted to know him, albeit sometimes he was hard to handle because of his customary pranks. He sometimes treat the little guy to Ramen happily, but he'd always go home with tears streaming down his face- the orange-clothed would-be ninja had a very BIG obsession with Ramen.

He had thought of introducing him to Konran, another fanatic of Ramen, eats as much as him (though more dignified) and watch them have an eating contest. Well, poor Teuchi and Ayame, but they'll be rich afterwards.

Acknowledging what the blonde had said, he looked at the other's reactions.

"Shut up, baka! Your voice is so annoying." Another voice shouted. Sakura Haruno , book-smart, pink-haired green-eyed girl. She was a former friend of Ino, he had learned, but cut it off because of fangirlism.

"Yeah!" someone agreed. Ino Yamanaka. She was the daughter of Ibiki's last partner, Inoichi Yamanaka. She had pale blonde hair and had a bang that was falling on the right side of her face. She was the former friend of Sakura."Right, Sasuke-kun?" she asked.

"Hn." Sasuke Uchiha, last loyal Uchiha. Top in all subjects, black-haired, had the typical Uchiha personality, meaning he thought every classmate of his was below him, and he was several levels higher than them. He was also the reason why all girls he had to hold were head-over-heels to please him. And became his fangirls because of his 'coolness', but he always tried to understand him. His family was massacred on the night he just gotten a test, by his own brother. Now, he was an orphan.

He also knew that Sasuke actually acknowledged Naruto as his rival, because Naruto was the only one who managed to let him speak for a longer time than his usual 'hn,tch'.

"Tch. Naruto's idea wasn't bad!" a bow with a dog perched on his head Inuzuka, son of Tsume Inuzuka ,brown hair, had red fang like marks on his face, owner of Akamaru, a white brown-eared dog. Naruto's prank friend, causes utter chaos with his dog. Likes to skip classes too, with Shikamaru, Choji and Naruto.

"T-That's right!" a shy girl whispered. Hinata Hyuuga, daughter of Hiashi Hyuuga. Short- indigo haired, very timid young girl. He had known of the girl's crush on Naruto since the first time he entered the class, but it seemed like Naruto was really dense and she was really shy for the two to meet.

"Troublesome people." Shikamaru Nara, lazy genius, black-hair tied up in a ponytail, son of Shikaku Nara. Maybe smart, since he was the son of the Top General of Konoha. He also liked sleeping, and skipped classes to sleep.

"…" Shino Aburame. Shaggy black hair, high collar, black shades, doesn't talk much until needed to, just like his father, Shibi Aburame. He didn't know much about Shino, but he really was attentive. When he needed to answer, eh gave a very straightforward answer, to the point.

"Iruka-sensei, what are we going to do now?" Ino asked, curious at the chuunin's expression.

"We…." Iruka looked at his students smiling, his eyes twinkling. The students liked their teacher's ideas when he has that look in his face. "… are going to pay a friend of mine for a visit."

* * *

"Woah, Iruka-sensei. Your friend has a large house." Sakura observed, head tilted.

"Bet'cha he doesn't even look much." Kiba sniggered in the back, and immediately Iruka looked offended at the comment.

"Hey, he's my friend, don't say things like that!" Iruka said, making a disapproving glance.

"Sorry." Kiba mumbled.

"See what happens when you insult Iruka-sensei's friends?" Naruto whispered.

"Yeah, yeah."

Iruka adjusted his chuunin vest and coughed. The academy students just stood there in confusion, watching Iruka's movements.

"What are you doing, Iruka-sensei?" Ino asked.

"Preparing." Iruka rolled his eyes. "KONRAN!" he shouted.

"Maelstrom? What a stupid name." a student sneered.

"Maelstrom's not a stupid name!" Naruto yelled. "I know because my name _is translated into Maelstrom." _He said.

_'Weird, both of them have blonde, spiky hair and have the name Maelstrom… nah, I must be imagining things.' _Iruka thought.

The door glowed as the seals on the door were turned off, and a man opened the door. He was wearing a plain v-neck t-shirt, black pants and black shinobi sandals. His eyes were half-lidded and he looked like he was struggling to hold his yawn inside not to offend his visitors."Iruka…? What are you doing here?" the hunter-nin asked.

Iruka put his head down. "Well, my secretary got fired again, because he had destroyed the whole classroom and they say it would take a day to repair it so…"

"…you thought it would be a good idea to wake me up in the morning to have a talk with them, as an exchange?" Konran queried, mouth clipped in a thin line, while he was gazing at the academy to-be graduates with a raised eybrow. Truthfully, he was quite surprised. Never had he thought Iruka to bring the class to his house, after all.

"Um, I thought it would be better than having Ibiki-san have a lesson with them." He confessed, shuddering afterwards.

"Yeah, probably." The blonde-red haired man agreed. Scanning the class, his heart secretly ached. All of his past companins, the Rookie Nine… they were stil kids, so young, so naïve. Away from the dangers of the war that secretly brews outside the Konoha walls. He didn't show his sadness, though. He went to this timeline to change everything, not to mope why he hadn't been more powerful to save them all.

The Chuunin's eyes narrowed, feeling Konran's sadness when he looked towards his class; particularly when he looked at his nine 'best' students. '_Wonder why...'_

It was official. He needed to speak to Ibiki and Anko after this visit and tell them to ask what was wrong with Konran. But, his students first.

Iruka turned to his wide-eyed students and grinned, just like his best friend does.

"Class, meet Odayakana Konran, my best friend and a hunter ninja."

* * *

"_That's _Iruka-sensei's best friend?" Ino whispered to Sakura, who was observing the duo talk to each other, leading the way.

"Yeah. He's a cutie." The cherry-blossom haired girl whispered back.

"I know, right?" the Yamanaka heir said, blushing.

At the middle of the conversation with Iruka, Konran rolled his eyes. Kami, his former classmates were so hung-up on being fangirls, now they think he's handsome? They always thought he was stupid-looking. Besides, who thought he was handsome?

Hinata just wanted to explode at their conversation, so she turned to look at her only crush, who was.. staring at her. She wanted to faint, then and there.

"Hey, Hinata… what do you think of him? Konran-san, I mean." He asked, and then noticed the indigo-haired girl's face was heating in an alarming rate."Hinata, Hinata, HINATA!"

Konran sweat dropped at his younger counterpart as he shook the Hyuuga princess repeatedly, while Iruka just face palmed.

"I'm sorry," he heard the scarred chuunin's muffled voice as he covered his face. "Naruto doesn't really understand why Hinata does that." Iruka was _very _embarrassed of Naruto's reactions, in front of Konran, of all else! Life must like to embarrass him.

Oh, the irony.

"Oh. I understand." He smiled.

_'Hinata, eh?'_

"Iruka-sensei, let's bring Hinata to the hospital, she's burning up!" the whiskered troublemaker yelled.

Iruka shook his head no and he was about to answer when the taller ninja beside him walked over and knelt beside the jinchuuriki.

"Burning up, eh?" Konran said, nodding at Naruto. His hands lighted up, and he put it on her forehead, pretending to find any complications.

All of the students watched in fascination as the hunter-nin's glowing green hands spread all over Hinata's form, and disappear. Naruto especially was happy and amazed at the same time because he had felt what the green.. thing was. It was soothing and had healed his cut he received earlier when he made a prank.

A second after, Hinata woke up to see a relieved Naruto and the smiling face of their visitor. She sat up abruptly and wondered why her head seemed lighter than usual, and immediately 'eep'ed as she realized she was the current center of attention.

"Are you okay, Hinata?" Naruto asked, worried.

"*eep* H-Hai, N-Naruto-k-kun.." she answered.

Sensing the girl's embarrassment, Konran clapped his hands, secretly winked at the girl who mouthed a 'thank you' and said," Okay, here we are. As you may know, I'm Odayakana Konran, and this is my training ground."

He motioned the others to sit down, and unconsciously Naruto sat beside him. Iruka's jaw inwardly dropped; Naruto never was eager to listen to lectures. He'd rather get away from the speaker.

"So..what do you all want to know? "he asked in his usual deep, kind, voice.

"Um.." Sakura put up her hand. "What was the green glow earlier, the one that helped Hinata-san?"

"Hmm, that?" _'This should help..' _"Well that, that was, in other words, medical ninjutsu."

"Field ninjas are _better _than medical ninjas." A kid grunted.

Murmurs broke as they conversed with each, some were, "Yeah, they're not that useful," Or "No way, they're really helpful!" and other stuff like that. Iruka made a move to silence the class but Konran held up his hand. When the class had quieted down(Iruka really wanted to get tips from his friend. How can he silence the class with a hand?!) he leaned on the tree, and spoke.

"Which is more powerful, eh?" he said, grinning at the students. He made a motion to make the students sit closer to him, which all complied.

"Field ninjas get to fight, do combat and all that. In terms of physical strength, they may are better." He looked upwards, thinking. "Medical ninjas are better in the chakra department, because for you to heal somebody, requires perfect chakra control. Both are good in the mental aspect, but I'm not really sure about that. Others may rely on instinct."

Noticing they didn't understand, he sighed. "I'll tell you all something. It's… akin to a story, but the main character is me. So listen up."

"As you may all know by now, I'm a hunter-nin. We work alone, we work by twos, and we're always dispatched _outside _of our village."

"A-Ano.." Hinata's shy voice suddenly was heard. Konran looked at her, who was poking her index fingers at each other. "Don't you get scared, scared at all because you're leaving the comfort of your village?" she meekly said.

"Why would he, nobody would be, only if you're a sissy, and you're one!" a bully mocked while his lackeys laughed at the insult.

Shino just shook his head and let his bug to bite the kid and in three simultaneous events, all bullies were asleep. An Aburame wasn't one to retaliate, but those classmates Shino had had gotten through his nerves. Konran shook his head in gratitude while Shino shook his head as well. The Aburame heir stretched out his hand and collected his bugs. His calm exterior almost disappeared when he discovered when one bully made a move to squash his bug.

"Hey." The hunter-nin said, alerting the kid. Konran knew the appreciation Shino had over his bugs, even if they die in "Don't." he gestured towards the bug.

"What? It's just a little insignificant insect." He sneered.

Konran stood up and patted the boy's head. "That doesn't mean it doesn't mean anything to another person, you know." He turned to Shino. "Shino-san, is it? Here's your bug."

He lifted his finger and let the bug fly away towards its master. Shino was too amazed that a man outside their clan had such appreciation over bugs. He remembered his manners and said, "Arigato, for saving them for me. They're very special."

"I know." The latter smiled. "So, Hinata, oh wait," he looked at everybody. "Could I call you all like I'm somewhat familiar with you? I'm not a fan of formalities." He apologized, scratching his head.

"Sure 'ya can!" Kiba enthusiastically yelled with Naruto. They weren't, too.

"Thanks. So Hinata, I was not scared. Yeah, I can handle myself. Yeah, I wasn't scared. But I was reluctant, you know what I mean? I felt like I was going to leave my home. But do you know what makes me move forward, go outside the village and do my job?" he asked.

"Um," Ino started. "You remember your friends and family because you're going to protect them, right?" she asked, doubt in her voice. Hopefully she was correct, since it was a hunch.

"Yep." He confirmed. "So where was I? Oh, there. I was with a friend, and we were tasked to destroy an enemy camp, and then, we completed the job, and, well, how'd you put it? Gory. Bloody. A ninja's entire nightmare."

All students paled, while Iruka turned away. He was Konran's companion that time; and something happened to him. Sasuke however, was scared beyond belief because he was remembering the Uchiha massacre, though he didn't show any emotion outside.

"I was breathing heavily after. And abruptly, the whole camp exploded."

"I was farther than my partner, in terms of distance from the camp. All the shards; the camp used crystal-like weapons- exploded, and my companion got hit on the stomach by accident. I got out all the shards, but that time, I didn't know how to heal anybody that fatal. I was desperate, so I used all my remaining chakra to teleport the both of us to Konoha. I felt like I was dying. I felt my consciousness slip away, but I wasn't going to leave my friend. I just can't leave him alone. I was okay to die, but I can't let him die; he was a precious person."

Iruka swiped a tear that almost fell from his eye. Konran cared for him that much?

_'Just like a true leader would… Dang, he makes a good story teller.'_

"He would have died…. if it weren't for Tetsuo, a medical ninja from the hospital. He wouldn't be alive if there weren't people who were medical supplied. And from that day on, I vowed I would study medicine. I've always appreciated medical ninjas a long time ago, and you should now. So, my answer is.."

He looked at his current students with an eye-smile (which startled Iruka, since he thought only Kakashi Hatake had the ability to curve his eye like to a smile) and opened his eyes, and with a serious face on, he said, "… they're equal. When one is in need, one answers. When one is down, one drags them up. When both are down, one strives to stand up and finish the battle. When both reach their peaks, it doesn't even matter if the other is a field ninja or a medical specialist. The only thing that matters in the end is that they have defied all odds, and they have reached success."

"Now.. what do you think?" he asked.

Silence.

Students were busy gaping in shock and others had their jaws on the floor.

And then…

"That was.. EPIC!" Naruto exclaimed giddily. He shifted in his place embarrassedly. "But.. not where you almost die and all. Your life must be hectic and adventurous at the same time!"

**_'You have no idea..' _** Kurama thought, chuckling.

"Hm." Konran scratched his head, shrugging. "Don't know. Just, wanting to have a challenge, I guess." He turned to look at Iruka. "Well, I need sleep. I just came from my latest mission and I'm beat. I'll be leaving you guys. Have a nice day!" he waved goodbye and started walking towards his home. Sounds of 'aww, don't go yet!' and 'not yet! Please?' were heard, but one dominated all.

"Wait!" Sasuke shouted, stopping the man from walking further. The Uchiha didn't care now if his fan girls would react badly if he goes out of his 'supposed' character.

"Don't go yet. I still need to ask you something." The black-haired kid said. The purple-eyed man nodded and covered his mouth as he let a yawn escape from his mouth.

"Yeah. What do you need?"

"Have you… trained with _him_?" he asked, hoping the man would understand what he was implying. Sasuke had once heard the name _Odayakana _from his brother's mouth, and the admiration was to be noticed. He just wanted to know if he was right. If he was amazed about his brother's skills, and the other admired the man in front of him, what of his?

"Yeah. Nice guy. Stoic dude, typical Uchiha. I wish you'd never grow up like him." Konran thought aloud, frowning. _'Not really. He was an overall good guy. Rather, like what you did in my timeline.'_

The Uchiha saw him frown, but quickly brushed it off as a reaction about what Itachi had done.

"Any other concerns?" he asked once more.

"Um, Konran-sensei?" Chouji asked, halting his eating.

"Yeah?"

"Shikamaru wanted to ask you something." The brown-haired kid said while shaking his best friend who was lying on the grass, watching the clouds, to ask his question. "Come on!"

"Fine, fine. *grunt* Mendokuse. Who was the guy that you saved, you seem pretty close to him.. Is he still at the hospital or what?" he asked. All students nodded, having the same question in their heads.

"Oh that?"

"If it weren't for Tetsuo… he won't be an academy teacher anymore." He winked. "But don't tell anyone that."

And with that, Konran vanished in a swirl of wind, leaving one bewildered class that was looking at a certain scarred academy sensei in shock.

* * *

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